Painkillers

Digital output print on Moab photo rag paper
14" x 28"
AP
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 as a complication of the first surgery, which was no fault of my excellent physicians. I was a tricky case because scarring from 3 earlier surgeries made it difficult to find a location where they could place the sutures. The experience was unbelievably painful, but I didn't want to tell people because no one could do anything other than bring me my pain medication, and it would just make them emotionally distressed.
 
The text of this piece reads, "NEVER COMPLAIN JUST ASK FOR MORE PAINKILLERS."
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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. 
 
This particular print is a one-off that I made for a show that requested a couple of larger pieces. The standard size for the edition of six is 11" x 22", so I have designated this as an artist's proof.