Waiting… waiting… waiting….

Patient, patience.

For the chronically ill, disabled, sick, we spend our time waiting, this for artist Jingyi, became the premise of the concept and artwork of exhibition ‘I just had a blood test, let’s have coffee’. As someone experiencing chronic illness, Jingyi draws from the personal experience of the unexpected intrusion of the act of giving blood, the anxiety, the limbo, the physically visceral feelings… the trauma, the numbness.

As a chronically ill sufferer and carer myself, I find the intimacy and often not talked about moments of being chronically ill within the exhibition, touching on the liminal spaces that we exist in but are often overlooked, refreshing. In the apparent quietness of waiting, is actually not quiet for those who live in the moment of hanging onto the balance of the yes or no, positive or negative or the even more frustrating ‘non-conclusive.’ The unrecognised labour of waiting is brought to light here – in which I am glad it is. 

This body of work, on-going, highlights the softness of coming together, vulnerability in sharing an insight of chronic illness living, whilst show casing a strength of defiance, agency towards the trajectory of one’s life, not being dictated by waiting. Particularly in the ‘Self Portraits’, the thin outline drawings from this series of work, gives a fragility and shadow of anonymity that anyone with chronic illness could feel themselves represented by. 

Jingyi, beautifully expresses the difficulty between body and illness and the wedge between mind, body and environment in which can be a turbulent relationship, navigated through grief, disappointment and pain – I feel you, we feel you. She writes, ‘It was a scary and lengthy journey as I positioned my legs in front of the mirror and slowly traced the outline of my body.’ Creative outlet’s and channelling the relationship with the body are important ways to learn to love the body we live in, we live with, illness included. 

Don’t let this ableist society tell you otherwise. 

As we watch the world go by, scroll by on social media, through the windows of hospital waiting rooms, or the grass of the local park, a separation between me and them. Heavy weighs on the mind as we wait for results. “I’m taking myself for coffee. Join me if you wish.”

Jingyi goes on to write ‘I don’t have answers on how to live this life, on how people should treat me.’ – Perhaps no one knows, but what we can learn is how we can enact radical forms of care and know that your illness is a metaphor on how we should enact, kindness, open-mindedness towards others’, and express anti-capitalism and break down barriers of ableism when accessing spaces. Know your voice matters in working towards this fight.

A quote that comes to mind for me is from Johanna Hedva, Korean American writer, artist, and musician:

‘The most anti-capitalist protest is to care for another and to care for yourself. To take on the historically feminized and therefore invisible practice of nursing, nurturing, caring. To take seriously each other’s vulnerability and fragility and precarity, and to support it, honor it, empower it. To protect each other, to enact and practice a community of support. A radical kinship, an interdependent sociality, a politics of care.’ – Johanna Hedva ‘Sick Woman Theory

Published March 12th, 2022 Topical Cream https://topicalcream.org/features/sick-woman-theory/

I hope to see more exhibitions, events and spaces being occupied by disabled artists, curators, musicians etc.

Congratulations on a successful exhibition and giving a platform to the not so ‘mundane’ aspects of living with chronic illness.

‘I just took a Blood test. Let’s have Coffee.’ was an exhibition that took place at ‘Float Cafe’, London, 12.06.23 – 14.07.23. Curation and artwork by Jingyi. ‘The concept of this show, I Just Had A Blood Test, Let’s Have Coffee, comes to me after an unexpected additional blood test from the NHS.’ : To find out more about the exhibition head to https://www.jingyistudio.com/i-just-had-a-blood-test

Artist :

JINGYI is a scenographer, art director, and multidisciplinary artist based in London and Shanghai. She has developed her practice on building bespoke visual rhetoric through literary analysis. Her work reaches across and blends theatre, fashion, film, and visual arts. She has an ongoing research focus on disability representation.

In 2022, she finished MFA Scenography in RCSSD.

Contact:

guccinidesigns@outlook.com 

Ins: @guccini_jingyi

Images 1 : credit Manyang Hu

Image 2 – 4 : credit Jingyi

Response written by Eliza