Image Copyright: Josephine Norma, 2020
Image Description: Black and white image of an unidentifiable body part, focusing on the different textures of skin.
This photograph is part of ongoing research for my MFA at OCADU. I am investigating a practice of speculative present, asking what is produced when I do not listen to intrusive thoughts that tell me 1) I do not deserve what I have and 2) I am not productive in the right ways. When I should be sleeping, but cannot because of chronic pain, I take documentary photographs asking “where does it hurt?” My pain, caused by endometriosis, infiltrates many parts of my body and mind, but is centralized in my lower left abdomen. In pursuing a diagnosis I was told “it must be muscular-skeletal” because the area I point to is not where my ovaries are. How do you point to a specific abdominal area when pain takes place in so many places? It felt like a question meant to trick me. In living with my illness, I am thinking a lot about interpenetration, the human brain’s response to natural patterns, and the myth of the divide between the mind, body and world. In this photography I am interested in the similarities between the patterns on my skin and patterns that are generated naturally in fractal monoprinting.
Instagram: @johzephine
Twitter: @johzephine
Capturing Chronic Illness 