Diagnosis

Digital output print on Moab photo rag paper
11" x 22"
1 of an edition of 6. 
2006
 
This piece is one in a series of nine text-based art pieces I made in the format of a Snellen eye chart. Each mini-narrative reflects an aspect of my experience as a patient recovering from 3 surgeries to repair a retinal detachment, which occurred when I was two weeks into my final semester at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I nearly lost my right eye, and had to go to the doctor every 2-3 days for months.
 
For years I had to fill out paper forms every time I went to the doctor, and I had to repeat my diagnosis and medical history so much it seemed like total gibberish, though I know what it means. Writing it in this format renders it more uninteligible. The text of this piece reads, "MACULAR HOLE SCLERAL BUCKLE VITRECTOMY PNEUMATIC RETINOPEXY"... and that's only a partial list that encapsulates the issues from that particular episodes. Jeez. 
 
Another piece from this series was selected for a group show at The Smithsonian's S. Dillon Ripley Center in 2007. You can read the press coverage from The Chicago Tribune's Weekend Magazine here.