How do we protect ourselves? 2025
Amongst the horrors of this year, this artwork came from my experience of giving evidence to the Lampard Inquiry, a public inquiry investigating the deaths of over 2,000 people under Essex mental health services – each of whom was catastrophically failed by the very institution which was meant to protect them.
I was giving evidence on behalf of @stopoxevision due to last minute changes the hearings will probably (yet to be confirmed) be heard in October.
Through trying to fight for disability justice and being harmed in the process, I kept finding myself asking the same question over and over: how do we protect ourselves from the very institutions, from healthcare to welfare, which are meant to be there to protect us as yet perpetuate the greatest harm?
I hope the soft, delicate fabric shows the precarity of disability protest and softness of the care we give one another in the space where a possible answer to this question lies in the ways we build care and community, protecting ourselves and each other as an act of resistance.
ID: Photo of a sheer fabric artwork hanging from a washing line with a white wall and blue sky in the background.
The artwork is a sheer white fabric with text stitched in red and green fabric. The text reads: HOW DO WE PROTECT OURSELVES FROM THOSE WHO FAIL TO PROTECT US. As the fabric is sheer, the text can be read clearly in the shadow of the artwork. In this image the words PROTECT US are very clear in the shadow.
In a letter published today, signed by disability and menstrual justice charities and organisations, we call on the government to reverse the cruel and reckless proposals to slash disability benefits.
Link here and in bio: .uk/openletter
We add to the existing organising against these proposals from disabled people by highlighting the impact these cuts would have on disabled people who menstruate.
These cuts would be devastating for disabled people but also represent a critical issue of gender equality with the governments own impact assessments showing women would be hit hardest by the changes to PIP scoring.
Tightening the eligibility criteria would make it even harder to access financial support for people with conditions and support needs which fluctuate on a day-to-day basis and through their menstrual cycle.
Already PIP applicants with conditions like endometriosis and fibroids face a much lower than average application success rate with claimants’ debilitating symptoms being dismissed as ‘just a period’ and the processes failing to account for cyclicality and variability in the intensity of experiences.
Disabled people who menstruate often experience cyclical exacerbation of symptoms which may impact support needs particularly with the added tasks related to managing periods.
However, the PIP assessment process and scoring overlook menstruation with the DWP incorrectly and reductively claiming that the tasks related to managing periods are the same as toileting.
We call on the government to:
🩸 Immediately reverse the proposed welfare cuts.
🩸 Engage meaningfully with disabled people to consider how the disability benefits system can appropriately meet the needs of disabled people who menstruate, and better account for experiences of conditions and disabilities which fluctuate.
🩸 Adapt the questions and assessment processes to explicitly recognise managing menstruation as an activity of daily living.
“It felt like this invisible person was following me. It became really frightening and I got really unwell. I didn't feel safe”
As part of the campaign group @stopoxevision , we spoke to the BBC about why we are calling for an end to Oxevision, CCTV and similar systems in psychiatric ward bedrooms.
You can read the story online and it's on national and local ratio/telly all day
How do you sleep at night?
This quilt, made from hospital patient gowns, staff scrubs and a hospital blanket, reads "how do you sleep at night".
Inspired by my involvement in campaigns against harms and injustices enacted in mental health services and psychiatric hospitals (and the experiences which led me to this involvement). Amongst the nightmares and sleepless nights it's given me over the years, the question always remains with the pain and injustice we suffer, while those who caused that get to go home and sleep soundly.
It's a question that's pertinent to all those who have been part of inflicting such immense pain on others.
It makes me think of the lyrics to 5am by Ex:Re: "and what about that man that hurt you, did he just go home and take off his shoes, did he lie quite calmly against his lover? Did he even once think about the pain he'd caused to another? Oh you can try and sleep well but cruelty trails"
Oxehealth (see @stopoxevision basically CCTV cameras in patients bedrooms in mental health wards) have a new product which is designed to provide "objective data" on sleep (a very subjective experience, probably only ever going to lead to 'data' backed gaslighting).
The product is to track patients sleep, but we ask the question, how do *you* sleep at night?
Because I love to see everyone's photo dumps, and inspired by @issiebarclay to celebrate my achievements more, here's the last year in photos + unpictured many coastal hikes and seals 🦭🦭🌊🌊 ❤️❤️
How do you sleep at night?
A mint quilt I made (a while ago, partly amongst a very stressful conference in Sheffield) for the @stopoxevision campaign. StopOxevision is a campaign against the use of video/digital surveillance devices (Oxevision, CCTV, body worn cameras etc) in psychiatric hospitals, with cameras placed in patients' bedrooms and bathrooms, used without patients' consent, and sometimes even without their knowledge.
The first image is the panopticon, a prison building designed to instill control through a sense of always being watched, though never knowing exactly when.
The quilt also includes a mini version of a poster by @gearsforqueers !
And a bonus picture of bagpuss who thinks I made the quilt specifically for her
Work in progress quilt. In progress as I'm unsure where it's going and how big it'll be. A weighted quilt made from small fabric scraps with various found stones, shells, sea glass and shark teeth tapped within the fabric.
It's fun working with the weight of this piece given fabric is generally not heavy
It was a while ago now but I've been meaning to share the zine I put together for the 4M mental health, menstruation, menopause and menarche conference this summer. The zine included illustrations, poetry, collage and written reflections exploring experiences of mental health and menstruation/menopause hoping to bring lived experience into the academic conference.
Some of the illustrations from the zine are shared in the latest issue of @asylummagazine alongside a discussion of my recent research on experiences of menstrual health in psychiatric inpatient settings.
I'm hugely grateful to those who contributed to the zine.
You can read the zine through the link in my bio /activities/4m-zine/
My commission for @thecourtsbristol and @creativeyouthnetwork is installed and open to the public!
It's a mixed media/soft sculpture which uses queer floral symbolism and soft fabric barbed wire to explore (expression of) queer identity. I've loved working with fabric and metal.
This will be installed permanently in The Courts building in central Bristol which is a new creative hub for young people in Bristol and features offices, events spaces + a cafe (soon).
The artwork was inspired by the history of the building and experience of queer identity. I chose the colours and materials to fit with the renovation design and I think it fits in well.
It's been so fantastic to be part of this project and a great space for young creatives in Bristol
I'll be installing my commission for @thecourtsbristol next week ready for the opening events. If you're in or around Bristol please go along to see all the hard work from @creativeyouthnetwork and young people in Bristol.
