Chaos from within

The Science

This piece was inspired by my own personal experience of having chronic pain. The background designs are in part a representation of neurons growing in a petri dish. The exact neural mechanisms behind what causes chronic pain remains elusive to pain scientists, and this image shows how devastating tiny irregularities at the neural level can be to the entire biological system. Having an invisible illness -whether it be mental or physical-, is often isolating to a patient, so this artwork visualises the internal chaos that wreaks havoc from within the individual. Pain is often dismissed as being “all in your head”, which is incredibly frustrating. Bringing visual awareness to an invisible condition helps to validate the patient’s experience. Making science more accessible is an integral driving force to why I am continuously experimenting with various graphical representations and illustrations of pain-related topics to help peers and patients understand complex topics within the field.

The Artist

Experiencing daily chronic pain has inspired Sarah to pursue her education to be an effective researcher, as well as an advocate and voice for pain patients who may not have the resources to do so on their own. As Sarah tried to understand her own pain, she became increasingly fascinated by the field in its entirety. She is graduating with a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Psychology in May 2021, and currently she is interviewing for programs to start a neuroscience Ph.D. studying the biopsychosocial aspects of pain in the Fall of 2021. You can connect with Sarah on Twitter @SarahSynapses.

Copyright statement. This work is published under the CC BY-NC-SA license