“Quiescence” is a series of ceramic sculptures, with supportive research materials in the form of time diaries and photographs. 

This body of work intends to highlight the debilitating effects of the scarcely researched chronic post-viral conditions “Myalgic Encephalomyelitis” (ME/CFS) and “Long Covid”. The experience of living with these life limiting conditions is described by those affected (including me) as an ongoing grey zone, a “limbo, a space between life and death” (Moore, 2022). Signs of disability and restriction may not always be visible, making these conditions loaded with stigma and disbelief. Those affected are seen in public only when well enough but the inevitable pay-back is Post Exertional Symptom Exacerbation (PESE/PEM) forcing us into bed/horizontal for prolonged periods of recovery.

A Freedom of Information Findings Report, found that in the UK 67% of NHS Trusts & Integrated Care Trusts (ICBs) do not hold any data on ME/CFS patients and that only 5 out 162 of these had delivered any training on the new 2021 ME/CFS NICE guidelines (ref: Action for ME).

“Quiescence” is a time-based, durational practice, where I work through and document my health fluctuations using themes of sleep/wakefulness, horizontality/verticality. When unable to be out of bed and use clay, I record the time spent horizontal through photographic landscapes of the surface and interior of my bed and diary entries, giving a snapshot that brings substance and visibility to an invisible disability.