Mark Fisher

Belly Boy, 2025

Acrylic on canvas

‘After a decade of declining health, and the adjustments needed to exist in a slowly contracting world, a recent surgery has suddenly allowed a period of good health. Belly Boy is an exploration into the complex and often dissonant emotions of chronic illness. It depicts a moment of peaceful vulnerability and debilitating sickness. It is an attempt to reconcile the strange compulsions to downplay or diminish my illness and render my suffering invisible to myself as a means of survival.’

Tinneas Boilg, 2025

Aicrileach ar chanbhás

‘I ndiaidh tréimhse deich mbliana nuair a bhí mo shláinte ag dul chun donais, agus ina raibh mé ag déileáil leis na hathruithe a bhí riachtanach chun maireachtáil i ndomhan a bhí ag éirí níos lú de réir a chéile, tháinig feabhas ar chúrsaí sláinte i ndiaidh dom dul faoi scian le déanaí. Is scrúdú é Tinneas Boilg ar na mothúcháin chasta, a bhíonn ag teacht salach ar a chéile go minic, a bhaineann le tinneas ainsealach. Tugtar léargas ar leochaileacht shuaimhneach agus ar thinneas a ghoideann beocht an tsaoil. Is iarracht atá ann an fonn aisteach a bhíonn orm suntas mo thinnis a cheilt nó a laghdú agus a chinntiú nach mbeidh m’fhulaingt féin ag cur isteach orm ionas gur féidir liom leanúint ar aghaidh, a nascadh
le chéile.’

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