When you have a chronic illness, you live your life by evidence. You document every symptom and side effect for doctors and insurance, and also in some way because no one believes that anyone can really be THAT sick for so long. When I got sick, suddenly and without warning one day, my life changed drastically.

 

I spent the next four years of my life in constant pain, before doctors figured out a decent treatment for me that today gives me about fifteen days a month pain-free. During those four years, I spent most of my time in my apartment and in doctor’s offices and hospitals, photographing my experience. The medicine I was on to manage my pain causes cognitive dysfunction, most notably in my forgetting words. My days of losing words shows the evidence of my time lost to illness through my lost words, creating a story of my illness out of both staged and found scenarios, domestic and medical imagery, still life and self-portraiture. The one-word titles refer back to words that got lost in the netherworld between pain and sanity. The self-portraits remain (inarticulately) untitled.

 

My days of losing words takes the viewer from the worst of my illness through the beginning of my healing.

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My days of losing words was published by Kehrer Verlag in 2013, with the help of my amazing supporters on Kickstarter:

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Alejandro Cartagena,Alexander Mauskop at the New York Headache Center, Alex Barszap, Alex Linde, Alex Price, Alice Towey, Alison Gilchrest, Alison Read, Alyssa
Shannon, Amy Gould, Amy Hughes, Amy Martyn, Amy Wellersdick, Andrew J
Sullivan, Anne Jablo, Anton Berteaux, Arsenio Santos, BethAnn Earl, Bill Knudstrup, Bill Stern, Brandie Albright, Brendan Coffey, Brian Cayne at Qatalyst Partners, Brian Donovan, Britt Levy, Bryan David Griffith, Bryan Kutner, Candy Meacham, Carolyn Susannah Tysor, Cindy Jensen,Corinne Crowley, Craig Kaplan, Dana, Dan Morgan, Dan Tran, Darren Riesz, David Katz, David Pace, Deborah Haber, Deborah Jackson Weiss, Derick Bulkley, Devin Pfister, Dr. Diane Wirz, Diep Truong, Dominik Lopatic,
Doris Beers, Eileen Jones, Elaine McFarland, Elisabeth Allen, ElizabethHendler, Ellen Avery, Elliot Olschwang, Erica Roggeveen Byrne, Erika and Alfons Lopatic, Eryn Starun and Graham Stroh, Fiona Russell, Gail Woodall, Gregory Murphy, Heather Musto, Heather Sauer, Henry Andrews, Holland Gary, Jaime Michele Sanders, James Wells, Janet Corroo R.N., Janet Jones, Jean N. Goodrich, Jeffrey Thomas, Jeff Smith, Jen Lucas, Jennifer Bishop, Jennifer Temple, Jenni Prokopy, Jessica Cramer, Jessica
Ree, Joanie Ward Smith, Joanna Casson, Joan Weisberg, Joan Wolkerstorfer, Joel Messerer, Johanna Walsh, John McDonald, John Simon, Jordana Golden, Jordana Joseph, Jordan Burton, Julio Mendez, Karin Krier, Karla Rossi, Kasey Ochs, Katherine Hendler, Kathryn, Kathryn Utsey, Kaye Van Valkenburg, Kemp Mullaney, Kevin Criqui, Kimberly Blessing, Kristin Wright, Larissa Taurins-Crawford, Lars Klawitter,
Laurence & Samantha Malinger, Leslie Wright, Lien Zimmerman, Lindsey Burk, Lisa Stein Stoutmeyer, Liz Nutting, Lori Orson, Lori Summers, Louise and Lake Polan, Louise Elizabeth Parker, Lyle Gray, Lyrania, Magda Pecsenye, Mandy Foster, Margaret Maldonado, Maria Maragudakis, Marilyn Polan, Marsha Steirn, Martha Bayless, Mary Peelen, Matthew Black, Matthias Kunze, Melissa Jankowski, Melissa Serpa, Merrill C Hoyt, Michael Cates, Michelle Mansour, Miriam Pokora, Mojgan Khodadoust,
Brendan Coffey, Myriam Joire, Neil Kandalgaonkar, Nicole I. Bernat, Nina Pan, Patricia Lopatic, Peggy McGovern Stumhofer, Petrina Wielgos, Rachel DiVerdi, Raf Vantuykom, Ralph, Ralph Bloch, Ray Thro, Rebecca Olla, Rebecca Pearson, Rebecca Polan, Rebecca Sherouse, Rhonda Nicole, Rob Vass, Ms. Robin Sharrer, Robyn Strelitz, Rosilyn Polan, Ruth Mays, RyanMoran, Sally & Cy Jablo, Sara Garcia, Sarah Crane Newman, Sarah DeBerry-Caperton, Sarah Einstein, Sarah Nelson, Sarah Rose Cole, Scott Miller, Sean McCormick, Selene Foster, Shabbir Safdar, Sharon Vinson,
Shiela Lowman, Sidney Polan, Stacy, Steve Jablo, Susan King, Sven Haiges, Tara Harwood, Terry Lowery, Theresa Timlin, Toban Nichols, Tom Whittaker, Traci Morgan, Victor Landweber, Wendi, Wendy Keebler,

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