The Living Death

• Prize
  Bronze in Portraiture/Self-Portrait
• Photographer
  Whitney Dafoe, United States
• Studio
  Whitney Dafoe

I have been photographing myself living with a chronic illness called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS) for which there is no cure for the last 13 years. It follows the progression of my illness from being housebound to having to leave my apartment and move in with my parents in order to receive assistance, and then continuing to get worse and becoming completely bedridden, unable to speak at all and needing a feeding tube and PICC line because my stomach became paralyzed.