Diomita Maurer’s Blog

Dido Haas invited me to visit “Body Language / The invisible woman” by Wicked Eiren. The exhibition is shown in the annex to the Nitroglobus Roof gallery, the space that Dido has dedicated originally to display her own art but that is also used to feature the art of other artists every once in a while.

This is the first time Wicked Eiren is showing her work at an SL Art Gallery. It is an intriguing and very emotional exhibition by Wicked who with these images asks for acknowledgement of/attention for her situation, and that of many others in the world who are suffering from Central Sensitivity Syndromes (CSSs), an umbrella term which houses a series of complex chronic diseases like myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, and many more. For more information about CSSs read here)
A diseases that you can not see, but which needs to be heard, the silent scream! (taken from the accompanying notecard)

I am an invisible woman.
Not because people refuse to see me.
They know I am here.
But it’s as if my (pain) detracts from my existence.
My presence too often mistaken for absence.
I am an invisible woman.

poem by Toni Blackman

Wicked Eiren is from Wales and lives in Canada nowadays. She’s in Second Life since 2009. She wrote in the accompanying notecard, that her challenge is to make SL photography look like RL photography with the help of digital elements. And looking at the showcasted monochrome pictures of “Body Language / The invisible woman” I can confirm that she succeeded. Chapeau!
Wicked has a flickr account as well as a website.

“What was once a vibrant beautiful engaging woman who’s passion was dancing, now hides from a world which has no understanding of this disease.
People only see “you look normal on the outside” no one knows who I was before this disease took me. You cover your body and start to shield it from light, touch, sound, and movement…eventually love!
You try to join the living and put on a face for others, but the cycle repeats after you return home, the inner scream your body rebels and no one can see the pain inside, never knowing if or when you overdo. Receiving remarks as ”you look fine” or ‘it must be in her head’…the stress you battle within and the pain in your limbs.”
(Wicked Eiren’s description of the exhibition)

The 14 pictures Wicked selected for the exhibition reflect her symptons. For each picture you find a short text in the notecard that you can grab by touching the exhibition poster. But the titles alone explain it already as well. The pictures are just beautiful, an homage to the female body. Lights and shadows are set to perfection and at least for me the pictures are very erotic. Nonetheless with Wicked’s titles the spectator (me) notices another level, an emotion that’s not seen on the first glance but becomes dominating once you know it. You get very aware of the body language. And all of a sudden the pictures tell another story.

The set-up of the exhibition with the light art and the mirroring floor makes Wicked pictures even more intriguing.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery is owned and curated by Dido Haas. Thank you, Dido for providing the space for the art and for enabling the exhibition “Body Language / The invisible  woman” by Wicked Eiren. Thank you Adwehe for the light art. And a big thank you to Wicked for her great artwork. I enjoyed my visit.

Landmark to Nitroglobus Roof Gallery – “Dido’s part” / direct landmark to “Body Language / The invisible woman” by Wicked Eiren
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunshine%20Homestead/166/41/1001
Wicked Eiren’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wicked_photogaphy/?
Wicked Eiren (Georgina Hannay)’s website
https://georgina-hannay.pixels.com/
More info about CSSs
http://www.bcwomens.ca/health-info/living-with-illness/living-with-complex-chronic-diseas
Dido Haas’ blog
https://exploringslwithdido.blogspot.com