Junior Workshop Highlights

The project: Metamorphosis: The Link Between Chronic Illness and Art

The inspiration: I was inspired by a conversation with my aunt about her relationship with her Fibromyalgia. She told me about how when she was first diagnosed she could only see the negative side of her diagnosis (the fear, pain, and worry) but as she continued living with it, she began to see how it positively changed her life. I found that idea of transformation interesting and I asked her if she had any items from when she was diagnosed and she brought me the MRI films/screens from her diagnosis.

The process: Before being matched with an advisor, I knew I wanted to do something art related so when I finally landed on my idea I started by deciding what art medium I would want to use. I landed on silkscreening/screen printing which I learned from an art class at Calhoun. After some research on turning medical scans into art, I decided to pick four frames from my aunt's MRI and make them stencils for my silkscreening. I played around with colors and abstraction because I loved the idea of turning something dark and scary like an MRI into something bright and colorful that someone would actually enjoy looking at. After making a bunch of screen prints on different materials, I wrote a piece on my aunt's story and how Fibromyalgia changed her and my relationship with her.

What I learned: My Junior Workshop experience taught me about the power of perspective. From my aunt's story and from researching other people's stories, I learned how isolating and terrifying it can be to be diagnosed with something you might not even understand and have to live with it for the rest of your life. If you could take something like an MRI and turn it into a piece of art that represents change and positivity, that would be one small step into changing your perspective on your situation. After giving the prints I made of my aunt's brain to her, I saw just how powerful transforming something into art can be.

What’s next? I would love to explore this idea with different art mediums. I love painting and considered it during my project but ultimately ended up with silkscreening. I think it would be interesting to see how a different medium could change the effect and feelings that come up.

My Junior Workshop experience—through my group, advisor, and topic—was one of the most meaningful and rewarding parts of my high school career.