The project
This project was initially born as a personal need to express the enormous chaos of emotions and fear after the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis.
One of the first emotions was anger and I have always used art to channel and exorcise this feeling.
It’s very difficult to live with even disabling symptoms which are completely invisible to the outside and to other people.
I take as an example the Fatigue, which is very different from tiredness. It is due to nerve messages from your brain and spinal cord having trouble to run trough the areas of damage caused by MS.
It can be easily confused with listlessness and laziness, while in reality it is a physiological disorder.
The same applies to many other invisible symptoms, which can vary from person to person, and which can make the sufferer appear to be in perfect health while the reality is just the opposite.
In this series I wanted to create a different way to communicate MS beyond the medical language and rise awareness on MS’symptoms. I wanted to use landscapes as a metaphor to remember that behind every difficult climb you can find a small valley of rare beauty. The blue flowers, present in each artwork and symbol of this project, want to emphasize this: remember to raise up your head and observe the beauty of the surroundings.
-I wish I had this illustrations to help me when I was diagnosed the first time!-
1
Myelin
Immune system’s favourite course
The body’s immune system cells attack the Myelin sheath that protects the nerve fibers.
The cells strip the Myelin off the fibers, leaving the nerves unprotected and uninsulated.
2
Magnetic resonance
Fear of the unknown
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain is fundamental in the diagnosis and treatment of multiple sclerosis.
3
LHERMITTE’S SIGN
Bending the head forward is not a good idea sometimes
A sudden sensation like an electric shock that goes from the back of your neck thorough your spine.
It is usually triggered by bending the head forward, bringing the chin towards the chest.
4
REMITTING RELAPSING
A meteorite hitting you in a sunny day. Again and again.
Relapses are characterized by flare-ups of the disease (with new or increasing neurologic symptoms); Between these flare-ups, there is periods of recovery, remission.
5
VERTIGO
Change of perspective. Literally
In MS, these symptoms are caused by damage to the areas that coordinate perception and response to visual and spatial information.
6
PROGRESSIVE
Uphill dangerous and complicated path
Symptoms gradually worsen from the outset without periods of remissions.
7
(un)SENSITIVITY
Where is my hand?
(Numbness) occurs when the nerves that transmit sensations do not conduct information properly. As a result, sensations in the hit areas are either lacking or nonexistent.
8
FATIGUE
Not just tiredness
(Numbness) occurs when the nerves that Fatigue is thought to be due to nerve messages from your brain and spinal cord having truuble to run trough the areas of damage caused by MS.
9
UTHOFF SYNDROME
When it is hot, the game gets harder
It is characterized by the worsening of MS symptoms caused by an increase of temperatures..
