Explore the Art of Illness and Disability

Are you interested in exploring the complex and often overlooked topic of illness and disability through art? The exhibition 'On Being Ill' at Charleston in Lewes is a unique opportunity to discover how modern and contemporary artists are using their experiences to create new and thought-provoking works. The exhibition is inspired by Virginia Woolf's essay of the same name, published in 1926, which argued that illness is rarely written about due to the limitations of language.

The exhibition brings together a range of artists who use different mediums, including sculpture, gesture, and mark-making, to describe their experiences of illness and disability. Some of the works respond to key themes from Woolf's essay, such as the view from a bed, the altered passing of time, and structures of community and care. The exhibition is shaped by the social model of disability, which suggests that people are disabled by barriers in society, rather than by their bodies. This approach acknowledges the different lived realities of individuals and aims to explore what it means to have, care for, and value bodies and minds with different needs.

Virginia Woolf, the inspiration behind the exhibition, was a renowned English modernist writer, born in 1882 in South Kensington, London. She is widely regarded as one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors, known for her pioneering work in stream-of-consciousness narration. Woolf's life was marked by recurrent periods of ill health and depression, which she wrote about in her diaries and letters. Her sister, Vanessa Bell, nursed her through several periods of illness and later designed the cover for the first standalone edition of 'On Being Ill', published in 1930 by the Hogarth Press.

The exhibition 'On Being Ill' will be held at Charleston in Lewes from Wednesday, 4 November 2026, to Monday, 12 April 2027. Tickets are with the button beside the article. This exhibition is a unique opportunity to engage with the work of modern and contemporary artists who are pushing the boundaries of how we think about illness and disability. By exploring the complex and often overlooked experiences of individuals with illnesses and disabilities, the exhibition aims to challenge our assumptions and foster a deeper understanding of the importance of community and care.

The exhibition is part of a larger exploration of the Bloomsbury group's experiences with illness and madness, which will be further explored in Charleston's sister show, 'Mad Bloomsbury'. With its thought-provoking and innovative approach, 'On Being Ill' is an exhibition that will resonate with anyone interested in art, disability, and the human experience.