Invalid
Event Information
Description
While entrance is free, donations are appreciated (£2 per person suggested) and can be made at the event.
Invalid is a sharp exposure of a family living with debilitating illness. The collection’s nuanced representation of multiple sclerosis displays both the physical and psychological effect of such a life-changing condition. Pen Reid's work speaks to anyone who faces a degenerative disease whether as patient, carer, family member or friend. Ultimately Reid’s portrait is optimistic, and the stark tone catalyses a unique representation of illness and familial love. Whilst Reid’s overarching narrative is domestic, Invalid finds much of its symbolic currency in natural imagery. Approaching debilitation, humanity, family and nature holistically, Reid asks why we categorise and separate illness and disability as ‘abnormal,’ ‘different’ and ‘INvalid’. In detailing complex familial relationships, Reid celebrates the sheer obstinacy of compassion and personhood. Covalent to Invalid’s incarnate, often difficult, imagery of sickness, she emphasises that “love lives not in the physical”.