SICK AF

Lucinda Crimson
Apr 2
2 min read

Updated: Apr 8

SICK AF is a group exhibition touring around Western Australia with Art on the Move.

My new works for SICK AF reflect the frustration I feel as a high-risk person during a pandemic. 18 months ago a tiny sniffle disabled me. A covid infection could leave me permanently bedbound, taking away my independence.

In this dystopian ‘New Normal,’ where healthcare workers often refuse to mask and people avoid testing, I feel isolated and abandoned.

If you care about disabled people, please mask in the spaces we are forced to share. Advocate for clean air in schools so that future generations face a lower risk of becoming disabled like me. Support people with Long Covid and ME/CFS – we are doing it tough.

Website for all SICKAF artists: https://sickaf.com.au/buy-art/

Staying upright in the New Normal

embroidery thread on digitally printed fabric

This stitched still life depicts some of the things that are keeping me stable in a society keen to pretend it's 2019.

One-way masking isn’t foolproof so it's hard for high risk people to protect themselves.

To reduce my risk, I wear a mask, use nasal spray and mouthwash, monitor the air quality in my classrooms and regularly test for covid in case I need antivirals. I often have flu-like symptoms when I've overdone it. I keep electrolytes on hand to manage my dysautonomia. With one-way masking, every outing is a roll of the dice or the chance of a fortune cookie…

One of millions missing

oil, enamel and acrylic on cradled wood panel

2024 finds me disabled and exhausted with crippling fatigue from ME/CFS. I used to be bright and extroverted, with a colourful wardrobe, home, and art & design

practice. Now, I’m fading. I’m often too fatigued to lift my head; putting on my glasses to read or paint is often beyond me. I monitor my heart rate and steps on my watch, attempting to exert myself as little as possible because any exertion can make me more unwell for days. The hashtag 'millions missing' underscores the invisibility of ME/CFS—we are housebound and missing from life as we knew it.

ME/CFS back in bed

embroidery thread on linen

This little pun (from the birthplace of AC/DC) made me laugh, but I was thinking about the 25% of people with severe ME/CFS when I embroidered this. Severe ME has a massive range of severity from “only” housebound, to patients who are bedbound with severe symptoms requiring tube feeding and IV hydration. Very Severe ME patients are as sick as late-stage AIDS patients but can live like this for years or decades in a state often referred to as 'Living Death'. Severe ME patients suffer medical neglect due to their inability to access telehealth or home visits from doctors. There is no cure and research is underfunded.

This info is from Sammy who died from severe ME at the age of 25 last month in Melbourne. Sammy was an incredible advocate whose work can be found at

https://www.instagram.com/m.e_and_more/