Image Copyright: Jennie Kermode, 2020
Image Description: Image of a person with long, light-coloured hair sat on a black desk chair, wearing glasses and a black top. The person is sat next to a red wall, with a framed picture and mirror. The background is a set of bookshelves full of books, and other items. A wheelchair with a black seat and handles is visible to the left of the image.
This is the only kind of photograph I can take. I’m no longer strong enough to hold a camera. You can see the way that the muscle structure has collapsed on my face, and the dryness of my skin. I can barely lift my right arm to comb my hair, and my left arm not at all. In the background you can see the wheelchair I am lifted in and out of when I need to move around. This is my study, where, as a housebound person, I do all my work as a writer, journalist and researcher. It’s also where I socialise. Sometimes I feel like a ghost; my body does not exist within the wider world, but I live in the ether.
Twitter: @jennie_kermode
Capturing Chronic Illness 