Open call for artwork about chronic illness or disability for Sick Artists Club exhibition

Lizzy Rose, self - portrait in hospital gown in 2021

A new open call for submissions of artwork or writing for online exhibition Sick Artists Club has been launched.

The call is for people who have any experience of chronic illness or disability, mental or physical. People are invited to submit artworks or written pieces that express something about the experience of living with chronic illness or disability.

The team behind the project is aiming to create a gallery of 200 people’s individual experiences of illness and disability to show how diverse such experiences are. Artworks exploring Depression, ME, Blue Badges for disabled parking spaces, and stereotypical sick girl characters from stories, have already been submitted and are viewable in the dedicated online exhibition at thingsihavelearnedthehardway.com/sick-artists-club-artworks

All the information about the open call is available to view at thingsihavelearnedthehardway.com/sick-artists-club

Artworks can be submitted by emailing a clear photograph or other digital image with a brief artist statement to [email protected], or follow the project on social media and post about your artwork with the hashtag #SickArtistsClub.

Katie Hogben, who is managing the project, has personal experience of chronic illness, and says all artworks submitted are being treated with sensitivity.

She added: “We are very keen to work with local groups who work with people who have experience of chronic illness or disability, and are able to provide some support to facilitate this – get in touch if your group would like to be involved.”

The Sick Artists Club is organised by the team behind a series of exhibitions and events for Lizzy Rose (1988-2022): Things I Have Learned The Hard Way. It is inspired by Hospital Watercolour Club, which was created by Lizzy Rose, a celebrated artist and Crohn’s sufferer, from her hospital bed. Things I Have Learned The Hard Way will see the artwork of Lizzy Rose exhibited and celebrated at venues throughout Margate, including CRATE, Limbo, Turner Contemporary, Well Projects throughout April 2023 and at a live streamed event at London’s ICA.

Sick Artists Club is a digital participation project aimed at bringing together sick and disabled people throughout the UK, and making their experiences visible through art.

Lizzy Rose

Lizzy Rose was an artist working in film, photography, installation, and painting, with a BA in Fine Art from London’s Central Saint Martins College (now part of UAL). She spent most of her short life as an artist in Margate. Known for her insightful and often humorous artwork on community, identity and hidden culture, and her real-time documentation of her chronic illness, Lizzy passed away in 2022 from complications related to Crohn’s disease, aged 33.

Highlights from her work include covering a gallery floor with living moss and orchids for Meaning of the Wild (2018), a film of her heart monitor beeping soundtracked by the Celine Dion classic My Heart Will Go On (2018), and making paintings based on meme based on memes using the hashtag #chronicillness.

Submission guidelines

You can take part by sharing an artwork you have already created, or by creating something new. Any medium is welcome and you don’t need any arts experience to join in! Once you have created your artwork inspired by your experience of illness or disability and Hospital Watercolour Club, take a clear photograph of it.

Upload your photo or video to social media and tag it with #SickArtistsClub or email [email protected]. Please share a small artists’ statement with your work, to explain to the world some of your experience as a sick or disabled artist.

Submitted artworks will be displayed together on the project’s website thingsihavelearnedthehardway.com/sick-artists-club-artworks, and will be celebrated as part of the Lizzy Rose Retrospective, celebrating the life and work of Lizzy Rose.

Deadline is Friday 14th April.