Project Lyme believes in the power of community and storytelling to raise awareness about tick-borne diseases. While sharing your story can be helpful for the general public to better understand your struggle, it can also be a great way to begin the healing process. More specifically, we encourage you to leverage art to convey the deeper meaning words cannot always touch. We have compiled a gallery with several pieces of impactful artistic expression with the hope it will reach outside the community to bring understanding, and inside the community to bring hope and healing. To learn more about the benefits of Art Therapy you can read our blog here.
Artist – Maya Ciminello
Description – IV (2023)
This piece represents the feeling of the endlessness of treatment, especially treatment administered via port, IV, or PICC line. It feels endless yet, we know we are healing. I remember having a port, and it felt like I could never forget my condition. This piece is meant to show solidarity with those suffering, no matter if their struggles are visible or invisible.
Artist – Jennifer Barrett
Description – My Tears Form The Roots of My Strength.
I made this quilt to acknowledge the pain, suffering, and trauma I have endured not only from Lyme, Bartonella, and Babesia, but also from those who choose to ignore the devastating impacts of these diseases. At the same time, I’m acknowledging the strength and fortitude I have developed over the last decade, to keep going. To keep advocating for change, in the hopes that others will not suffer in the ways that we have.
Artist – Karen Gloyer
Description – Nature’s Beauty.
I have had Lyme for 25 years now, 14 of which were undiagnosed. I lost my ability to read and write in 2012, but wasn’t diagnosed with Lyme, Babesia and Bartonella until mid 2013 after originally being bitten in 1999. I am the author of Nick, the No Good, Icky Tick, a children’s book about Lyme Disease prevention and awareness. I really got into nature photography during Covid and found it to be a way to channel my creative energy.
Artist – Joy Ann Adams
Description – My dog, Gabbie and I were diagnosed with Lyme Disease on the same day. For me, it was after eight years or more going from doctor to doctor trying to find out what was wrong with me.
Artist – Christina Klumb
Description – Tranquil Worlds.
Delightful creative sessions of art therapy with Annabel this weekend within the Project Lyme supportive community. I look forward to more opportunities to connect creatively within this community on a regular basis.
Artist – Sarah Barrett
Description – This poem represents my experience and my family member’s experience with the illness. When we are receiving treatment, we are always determining how we feel. Having a tick borne disease undiagnosed for most of my life, what’s normal and when will I get there? Will I stay there or decline? It’s a constant struggle, like climbing a never ending mountain or running a marathon indefinitely.
Artist – Alex Borne
Description – Before Picture.
This is a painting I did after having my one and only daughter. Post baby was extremely difficult with flare ups and fear. I didn’t recognize myself and was so fearful I wasn’t going to be able to care for a baby. She was jaundiced and I didn’t produce enough milk to clear it fast (reason for the yellowed baby face). I gave myself blue hands because I had severe Raynaud’s and also gave my baby blue hands in the painting because a big fear of mine was I would pass symptoms to her. There was extreme fatigue, extreme body pain, Raynaud’s , flushed face , and hair loss…. I was always looking in the mirror to see where I was in all that. I used the big gold earrings in the painting as a cue that I was trying to revive some version of my pre illness pre baby fancy fashionable old self. This painting is called “before picture”. Painted is a mom taking a before in the bathroom mirror at the start of her journey back to her “after self” in a culture obsessed with snap back after birth… which is impossible for somebody with an illness who tends to get much worse after having a baby instead of better.
