Paper Short Abstract:

S. Hollis Mickey lives with severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) while creating art, poetry, and the Instagram series #HollisObscuredByFruitsAndVegetables to raise awareness about ME and ableism. Applying my working theory of creative mourning, this paper explores how Mickey uses her platform to educate, build Crip Kinship, and confront ableism.

Paper Abstract:

S. Hollis Mickey is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, educator, and adventurer. She is also chronically ill and disabled, navigating life with severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), an illness that has left her bed- and homebound. Despite these challenges, Mickey leverages her limited energy to create poignant art, poetry, music, and a visually striking Instagram series, #HollisObscuredByFruitsAndVegetables, which merges aesthetic beauty with profound metaphor. Through social media and creative expression, she highlights the realities of living with ME, raising awareness about the insidious impacts of ableism on those with complex disabilities. This work is situated in conversation with scholars intersecting folklore and disability studies such as Theresa Milbrodt, Andrea Kitta, and Ann Millett-Gallant. Influenced by scholars like Henry Glassie, Deborah Kapchan, Lambros Malafouris, and Gillie Bolton, I contribute a theory that weaves together disability studies, art therapy, folklore of material culture, performance theory, and material engagement theory. I propose creative mourning; a working theory that captures the active entanglement of grief and loss, which I define as the performance of grief through making and through an “exchange of energy, emotion, and material” (Kapchan 2010, 133). Ultimately, this paper looks back through the window in which Mickey looks out at the world, and in so doing, explores how one person visualizes disability, uses her platform to create opportunities for education and Crip Kinship, and expresses joy through energy transformed into eclectic and transformative music and melody.