Migraine Art
Migraines are nothing new in the world of art. It is thought that Vincent VanGogh based some of his ground-breaking work on auras. (He also had a lot of head problems — not just migraines). A more level-headed artist that also was thought to have been cursed with Migraines was Claude Monet (you know — The Water Lillies guy?). Having migraines does not mean having to stop your creativity. If you have migraines, you’re in good company.
Inspiration from Aggravation
Art therapy has been around to help people deal with crippling emotional and physical problems since people learned how to scribble (think those cave paintings in Fance might have been the result of a really anxious hunter who was facing being eaten if he couldn’t come up with the game? Well, just a theory). Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung encouraged their patients to draw or paint mandalas or images they saw in dreams in order to help them with their problems.
And getting inspiration from a physical aggravation like migraines can produce some incredibly fascinating images. The National Headache Foundation held an art contest in 2001 based on the theme of migraines done by professional and amateur migrainers. There have been other migraine art competitions over the years, including those held by drug companies to help sell migraine drugs. The New York Times popular Migraine Blog recently set up a slideshow of migraine art collected from The Migraine Action Association in the UK.
And you don’t have to experience migraines in order to produce migraine art. Artist Olea Nova gets her inspirations merely from verbal descriptions from migraineurs. She has a deep interst in psychology and wants to help those suffering from migraines (or gambling addictions, or other problems) to be able to convey to the world what they have to go through.
When you have a crippling chronic condition like migraine disease, you often feel completely helpless. Creating some sort sort of art can help you not only vent your frustrations, but prove to yourself that you are not just your migraines.
Hope this helps.
June 9th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
[...] I couldn’t resist adding that video, too.) I was parusing YouTube again, wondering about art based on migraine pain, aura and other physical and mental issues, when I came across this privately made video, which [...]