Today, May 12th 2018, we celebrate Awareness Day for ME/CFS! This year I created artwork that is being used officially by MEAction Network Australia for the #MillionsMissing Campaign. It is a dream come true for my work to be used for a cause so close to my heart.
#MillionsMissing is a global advocacy campaign for people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) by MEAction, which was featured in the brilliant documentary ‘Unrest’ directed by Jennifer Brea (Jen was co-founder of MEAction.) Empty shoes represent the #MillionsMissing around the world due to ME/CFS. Personally, I have had severe Fibromyalgia Syndrome and ME/CFS for 28 years, since childhood.
MEAction Network Australia asked if I could incorporate thongs into a design for the Australian campaign. I acquired my first iPad only months before, and it was my first design. The shoes themselves took minutes to draw, but it took hours to work out all the colours!
The main image, using pop art thongs in a collage, includes thongs stopped in their tracks due to ME. Bottom right are a pair of children’s shoes, directionless, bewildered, not knowing what to do or where to go, absolutely shocked to the core by ME. This was my experience, and is the experience of many children in Australia and around the world.
PDF Document: SPOT-THE-DIFFERENCE MEAction By Shiloh Moore
Also used in this year’s campaign is a ‘Spot The Difference’ image. In the artwork, I illustrated 11 differences between a healthy, overworked, tired woman, and compared her to a woman with moderate ME out for coffee. This year’s #MillionsMissing theme is ‘Can You See ME?’ I’d like to point out, yes, you can! If you know what to look for, there are many signs of a person debilitated by ME. I’d like to note I drew this image while lying down at a time when I had not been well enough to go out for a coffee for several years.
This year I also contributed to my dear friend Ketra Wooding’s brilliant short documentary ‘After Unrest.’ (‘After Unrest’ is on YouTube here) In it she shares her moving story from being a world-travelling sailor, to being bedridden in a nursing home in her 20’s and early 30’s. With a laptop in her bed, she edited it. This includes footage of the panel of experts she organised and had filmed at the screening of ‘Unrest’ on the Gold Coast. It is a powerful insight into severe ME and I am proud to have made a small contribution.
ME is a severely disabling, misunderstood and often invisible illness that impacts absolutely every aspect of your life. Can You See ME? If you know what to look for, yes, you can. Even mild or moderate ME is disabling and traumatic. It’s vital those with severe ME have their stories told and are made visible from their isolated bedrooms. It is important the #MillionsMissing are seen and not ignored.
Thank you for reading and making ME/CFS Visible. These are some memes made by MEAction Network Australia describing ME/CFS, using the thong images I created.
