Blurred vision, confusion, inability to speak, dizziness; the first time I experienced these symptoms simultaneously, it resulted in an anxious trip to the local emergency room. After many prioritized tests for stroke, the tentative diagnosis was that it seemed to be a severe migraine episode despite the lack of headache. Many follow ups with various doctors and ongoing tests and scans were required to confirm the diagnosis. It was at this point that I was introduced to the world of migraine disease and began my deep dive into what was going on with my brain and my body.
My past career spent in research and user-centred design, understanding how and why people do what they do, provide skills that were put to use navigating my new reality. Migraine from the Greek root Hemikrania meaning pain in half the head, is a disease with historical references back to Hippocrates (460 – 370 BC) and is the third most prevalent cause of disability globally (Casas-Limón, Javier et al.). As I have experienced first-hand, despite its prevalence, migraine disorder is barely taught in medical school resulting in few specialists, long wait lists, poorly defined causes, and little successful research until very recently (Amiri et al.) (Steiner et al.) (Rosen).
My personal knowledge of migraines was rudimentary at best, aligning with the general public’s dismissive misunderstanding that it’s ‘just a headache’. Through research and personal experience, I quickly came to understand that living with migraine disease can include disabling multiday episodes encompassing both physical and mental health. Migraine episodes significantly impact quality of life, and cause major disruption in all aspects from family, employment, to social activities and mental health (Quality of Life Survey Results - Migraine Canada™). But for the longest time, the introvert in me kept my illness separate from my art practice even though the episodes greatly reduced the time available for art making.
Through part-time classes at SPAO and the inspiration of instructors and classmates, I turned my lens inward and began to explore more personal aspects in my practice. Migraine patients often try a wide range of prescriptions, supplements, and physical or psychological treatments to regain some control over their illness and their lives. I pursued classes in lighting and still life leading me to experiments embodying the migraine experience through abstracted still life images of the medicines, and devices used treat the disease.
I was also inspired by the still life technique of topology of personal, intimate items and the modern aesthetic that extends the recent still life of work of Koo comprising of images of used soaps (Koo) (Koo et al.) and that of Arnaud Maggs, in his “Notification xiii” work of French mourning stationary envelopes (Art Canada Institute - Institut de l’art Canadien Arnaud Maggs, notification XIII, 1996). The piece 3 weeks in the life, 2024 illustrates the three weeks individual daily pill cases required to manage all the preventative prescriptions and supplements I take to manage my illness.
The original concept I envisioned was to present a series of colour still life photographs of items associated with the prevention and treatment of migraines. The objects aren’t immediately recognizable leading to a questioning and engagement of viewers to seek their identity. My concern about the obfuscation of the topic of critical illness and the disconnectedness from individuals informed the continued experimentation with still life images of specific treatment medications. In TRIPtan, 2024, I focused on the used packaging from a drug from the triptan family often used to treat migraines. The glitch aesthetic post processing reflects the uneasiness, dizzy, and disorienting nature of migraine episodes. The used packaging is more personal in that the desperate hand opening the medicine during an episode can be seen in the crumpled foil flaps and each empty socket representing one migraine.
But I still felt that the personal connection could be stronger. While I didn’t view myself as a portrait photographer and am strongly uncomfortable in front of the camera, I began to delve into self-portraiture during migraine episodes. In darkness 1, 2023, I had set up a camera to capture images during a particularly trying migraine while seeking solace in a darkened room. Although a deeply intimate look at migraine impact, the self-portrait work had a depressing aspect. Rather than evoking pity or sympathy, my aim was to show the strength and resilience of my fellow migraine subjects when they emerge from the darkness as I extended the work beyond a self-focus. I felt the literal ‘in your face’ during a migraine approach would victimize those with chronic migraine disease and further stigmatize them.
My practice often incorporates the confluence of analog and photographic processes with contemporary technologies. Through experimentation with the historic gum bichromate alternative process, I began to find the portrait approach I was seeking. The gum process affords control over the pigments used to get the emerging from darkness sentiment as shown in Jamie, 2025. A switch to working in the studio for the portraits provides control and access to more participants who may be uncomfortable with the presence of a photographer in their homes during a migraine.
The project titled Hemikrania took shape with two components:
- Faces of illness
- Living with illness.
- Faces of illness
- Living with illness.
The face of illness
At the heart of the project are portraits of people with chronic migraine disease. The monochrome portraits portray their strength and resilience as they emerge from the darkness so often needed during migraine episodes. The portraits are printed using gum bichromate emulsion, a historical photographic process dating to 1839 (Gum Printing). The gum printing process enables the customization of the pigments used to create the desired effects and contrast. The use of a historical process also reflects the nature of migraine disease that has references back to Hippocrates.
Because medicines including supplements, pain treatment, migraine prevention and episodic treatments are so important to those with chronic illness, the home medicine cabinet is a prominent fixture in their lives. The medicine cabinet is also ubiquitous and relatable to the audience and as such forms the platform of the Faces of Illness installation. Each portrait is printed with a gum bichromate emulsion and transferred to the mirrored door of the cabinet providing an experiential interaction with the audience. Viewers are familiar with their own medicine cabinet use and will see some of themselves in the mirror surface and can reflect (pun intended) on their own experiences with illness. Due to the manual nature, customization of the chemistry, and variability of the gum process, the final portrait is one of kind aligning with the nature of the disease that varies widely across individuals. The medicine cabinets open to show the various medicines and devices the portrait subject use in their quest for relief to further emphasize the complexity of living with a chronic illness.
Each portrait subject will provide a description of their feelings, symptoms, and auras as a result of their individual migraine experiences. The interior of the cabinet can include text on the inside providing these personal insights and experiences of living with migraine disease and the impacts on their daily lives, and family giving agency and voice to the participants.
Living with illness
The Living with illness component of the installation addresses the complexity of finding illness mitigations, the difficulty in finding successful treatments and the lengths to which people affected by migraine disease go. The ongoing project involves creating a series of compelling still life images of the objects used by the portrait subjects in their treatment such as pill cases, medicines, needles, cooling masks and so forth. Various techniques of motion blur and layering are used in some images to reflect the uneasiness, dizzy, and disorienting nature of migraine episodes.
In the past, for severe chronic cases, preventative injections given monthly or quarterly have been used with moderate success. Recently, (late 2024) new experimental migraine preventative treatments involving injections have become limitedly available. For the SPAO graduation show, a very large (2m tall) ultra-high resolution image of one patient’s injection apparatus medicine capsule is shown, named after the drug they use - fremanezumab (1.5 mL), 2025. Inspired by artists such as the large scale and ultra-real works of Peter Andrew Lusztyk (Collectables), the hyper-realistic work is both intimate and imposing. The physical size looming over the adjacent portrait echoes the seriousness of the chronic illness, the ever-present threat of an episode, and the strong dependance on the mitigation methods for any semblance of a ‘normal’ life.
In my ongoing project Hemikrania, I explore the struggles, strength and resilience of those suffering from chronic migraine disease using the medium of photographic portraiture and historical processes and the drama of objects related to their illness shown in large format contemporary still lives. This duality of monochrome portraits in a historical process and modern approach and aesthetic of still lives parallels the darkness of migraine episodes, its long history, opposed with contemporary everyday life and demands as the subjects power through to live their lives.
“Living with migraine can be onerous and significantly impact quality of life. For many,
migraine attacks are painful and debilitating, leaving those experiencing an attack no
choice but to retreat to a dark room alone”. – Migraine Canada
migraine attacks are painful and debilitating, leaving those experiencing an attack no
choice but to retreat to a dark room alone”. – Migraine Canada
References
Amiri, Parastoo, et al. “Migraine: A Review on Its History, Global Epidemiology, Risk Factors, and Comorbidities.” Frontiers in Neurology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 23 Feb. 2022, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8904749/#:~:text=In%20ancient%20Egyptian%20medicine%20(From,superstition%20(18%2C%2019).
Casas-Limón, Javier et al. “Unravelling Migraine Stigma: A Comprehensive Review of Its
Impact and Strategies for Change.” Journal of clinical medicine vol. 13,17 5222. 3 Sep. 2024, doi:10.3390/jcm13175222
Collectibles - Peter Andrew Lusztyk, S16 Gallery, https://s16gallery.com/artist/peter-andrew-lusztyk-collectibles
“Gum Printing” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Dec. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gum_printing#:~:text=Gum%20bichromate%2C%20or%20gum%20dichromate,that%20dichromates%20are%20light%20sensitive.
Migraine and Headache Disease Language Guide 2023, Migraine Canada, migrainecanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/languageguide-onepager-EN-finalweb.pdf. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.
“Migraine Overview.” Migraine Overview, American Brain Foundation, 16 Mar. 2023, www.americanbrainfoundation.org/diseases/migraine/#:~:text=Who%20Does%20Migraine%20Affect%3F,and%201%20in%2011%20children.
“Quality of Life Survey Results - Migraine CanadaTM.” Migraine CanadaTM - Knowledge Is Power!, 12 Oct. 2023, migrainecanada.org/quality-of-life-survey-results/.
Steiner, Timothy J, et al. “GBD 2015: Migraine Is the Third Cause of Disability in under 50s.” The Journal of Headache and Pain, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Dec. 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5108738/.