A curated selection of paintings, poetry, essays, photography and other art forms by Persons with Parkinson’s.
There is a body of research in cognitive science suggesting that the onset of Parkinsons’s disease may produce a creative impulse in some. There is no question that to be reminded of one’s mortality is sobering and can drive one to look for ways to process the grief and other emotions they may be feeling. Others, having stepped away from their careers, suddenly have more time on their hands and search for a way to spend this time productively. But for some special few, there is something more mysterious and magical at work. Some become filled a creative impulse that seeks an outlet and, when expressed, helps soothe them. For these few, art becomes integral to their lives in ways that they never thought possible before.
Life is like a wild tiger. You can either lie down and let is lay it paws on your head–or sit on its back and ride it.
- Unknown (Quoted by Grace Heim)
The poem and the painting are always displayed together. Indeed, they evolved together. WWS calls the painting a visual interrogation of the poem, which changed as the painting came into being. The anger expressed was born of her body’s failure to perform as it did pre-Parkinson’s, but that anger then moves into the frustrations women face in a society that similarly limits their performance. Then it grows further: “It’s also centered around this whole idea of disabled people. We’re meant to be quiet. We’re meant not to have a voice. It’s about, I suppose, anything in society where people look at you, and you’re the disadvantaged.”
