Jodie Handley

Sunshine Coast National Art Prize 2025 - Finalist

_{Image courtesy of the artist}

Artist Statement

Patient 46, Adult Female, Age 38 is life lived with multiple chronic illnesses and conditions. They are parasitic, feeding on your energy and ability to function, causing you pain and slowly taking over. Where there is one, there is almost always another - you eventually become invisible where your illnesses are not. 

The skeleton was sized at half the height of the artist, as chronic illnesses and conditions often make you feel diminished and less of a person. The bold linework of the skeleton and text have been made to look almost unrefined and ‘hand drawn’, like careless pen strokes in a medical practitioner’s grimy, forgotten notebook. Each mushroom has been coloured in a limited colour palette to add to the illustrative nature of the piece. Occasionally, parts of a mushroom will appear at unexpected angles, in odd positions, or even be missing, representing the unpredictable nature of these illnesses. 

This piece represents over 340 hours of hand embroidery.