Christina Baltais
Christina Baltais is a visual artist from Toronto, Ontario. She’s lived with ME/CFS for the past 18 years, and uses her artwork to help process and communicate her experiences. Her body of work explores the intersection between art and advocacy using photography, collage, and sculpture.
Links:
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Everything “Is Fine” Now
Surreal collage
2022
“This collage is about the steadfast pressure to return to ‘business as usual’ during a global pandemic. It is symbolic of an obvious major problem that is far from being under control, but is instead minimized and ignored.”
Not My First Rodeo
Surreal collage
2022
“This collage is about the slow and steady pace one must adopt when living with ME/CFS, in order to not progress the disease. It’s a completely different speed and way of life compared to the rest of society, and to the life once lived prior to developing the disease.”
#MillionsMissing Shoe Series
Surreal collage
2021
“Empty shoes are a powerful symbol for the annual #MillionsMissing protest (May 12th, International ME/CFS Awareness Day) because they represent a person that can no longer use them because of ME/CFS.
This collage speaks to the isolation that comes with ME. This is shown by the lack of planets or nearby life, and the great expanse of outer space. There’s no gravity, and the high heels are spinning around, representing the lack of control in the direction of one’s life.”
Security Blanket
Surreal collage
2021
“This collage is about how catching a single virus can result one’s body plummeting deep into a post viral disease inferno.
The land of post-viral disease and ME/CFS is sparse in scientific understanding and treatments, the likes of which you only discover when you find yourself there.”
Shutting Out the World
Surreal collage
2021
“This collage is about the twenty-five percent of ME/CFS sufferers who fall into the severe or very severe category. Many spend years, even decades of their lives bedbound and behind closed doors. Many are unable to speak, require tube feeding, and cannot tolerate any sound, touch, or light. The level of suffering of severe ME/CFS (and the entire spectrum of ME/CFS) is unparalleled to that of any other disease, yet research and treatments remain negligible.”
Immunocompromised
Surreal collage
2022
“This collage is about not feeling safe or protected when you are a immunocompromised person living in a global pandemic.”
Taking This Ride One Spoon at a Time
Surreal collage
2021
“This collage was inspired by the ‘Spoon Theory’ — a metaphor that is used to describe the amount of mental or physical energy a person has available for daily activities and tasks. This theory can help others to better understand the pacing that goes into managing a chronic illness, and how every activity has a cost, or a “spoon” in this case.”