Kirsty Kay-Russell – Phoenix

Name of Artist: Kirsty Kay-Russell

Title of Piece: Phoenix

About the Piece: Pain, chronic pain is not just about pain, there is so much that goes hand in evil hand with the disease. One of the worst offenders is people’s perceptions of you and your pain. Phoenix is about my body, my pain, all the misconceptions, the frustration and the hurt being burnt alive in the roaring, agonising, screaming fires that are my pain, ground down to ashes. The phoenix then rises from the ashes, free to start again, to be born again.

About the Artist: Painting and sculpting now for just under 18 months and took it up upon recommendation from my pain physio! 4 years ago whilst pregnant with my second baby I slipped a disc. I was living in the Far East and they hospitalised me for the remainder of my pregnancy. As soon as I gave birth, I had the first of 41 operations and procedures in 12 months on my back and legs. I am now left living with chronic pain and in a wheelchair.