Falling Sickness

Kenna Taylor

Kenna Taylor is a young artist living in Timaru. She graduated from Applied Visual Art at Ara in 2019. Kenna’s exhibition endeavours to inform people about epilepsy, to convey an emotional view instead of a scientific one. She wants her artwork to help others understand the condition by showing what it is like for someone living with it on a daily basis. 

There are many different types of seizures, of which the majority of the public are unaware. Kenna would like this to change, so if someone comes in contact with a person having a seizure they will know how to approach the situation appropriately. Kenna has acknowledged, in her art, one type that she is very familiar with, being able to still engage in daily activities during a seizure. This can be very dangerous. She has shown this with the hands gripping the knife and hot water bottle.

In the first semester of Kenna’s last year of study at Ara, she focused on how epilepsy was viewed and treated when there was no modern medicine or understanding of it at all; when it was in fact viewed as a possession. This then made her wonder how it is viewed in today’s society. She was shocked to find out there is still a stigma attached to the condition due to the ignorance back then. Kenna found out there is still a lack of understanding in both the public and people with epilepsy, which is creating a negative view around the condition, thus resulting in discrimination for the people living with it. 

People with epilepsy face many restrictions in their daily life. Kenna looked at some of the main restrictions in her intaglios, such as inability to have a stable job, drive, and one that she had left out, being unable to live on their own. Employers will often refuse people with epilepsy because they don’t want other employees to feel uncomfortable or have high risk concerns in the work place, even if they have been seizure-free for ten years.Among other things, Kenna has also found that in some cases parents who have a child with epilepsy often feel shame, so they try to hide them by keeping them inside and away from others. This can stop children from attending schools affecting their education.

Simple actions of discrimination are affecting people with epilepsy mentally and it is going unnoticed. Some epileptics still hide their condition as much as possible to avoid being treated differently. These social problems can be much bigger hurdles to face than the seizures themselves. There is a growing interest in understanding and wanting to help epileptics. Some epilepsy organizations are joining together and starting a campaign called “out of the shadows”. There are many surveys helping to educate people and provide the correct healthcare training for medical people and teachers.

In her art, she addresses some of these issues. This is Kenna’s first solo exhibition.