| Title | About M.E. |
| Artist / Creator | Amanda Watson-Will |
| Artist's Nationality | Australia |
| Place of Publication | Brisbane, Queensland |
| Publication Date | 2017 |
| Author of Text | International Association for CFS/ME |
| Process / Technique | Handwritten in pigment ink |
| Number of Images | 8 |
| Structure / Binding | Pamphlet binding |
| Medium / Materials | Parchment, paper, beeswax, DMC Diamant gold thread, hair |
| Paper Stock | Glycine, silk kozo |
| Number of Pages | 8 |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 7 x 8.5 x .25 inches |
| Edition Size | Variable edition of 2 |
| Box / Wrapper | Archival card portfolio |
| Signed & Numbered | Signed & Numbered Edition |
About M.E. explores the artist’s experience of living with the illness ME./CFS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). ME/CFS is an unseen illness in the laboratory (there is no diagnostic test and biological markers sit at the limits of normal) which leads some medical practitioners to deny that ME/CFS is a genuine condition. Most often the illness develops in the aftermath of a mild infection or creeps up unobserved on the sufferer, with no identifiable trigger. Its onset and symptoms have been compared with the recently observed Long COVID. People with ME are dismissed by medical practitioners, told they are imagining their symptoms or if their problems are accepted as real, doctors merely shrug, having no treatments to offer. The suffering is unseen, and patients are repeatedly told “well, you look healthy”. About M.E. evokes the disintegration of lifestyle and self-identity experienced as a person with a disabling chronic illness that goes unseen in our society.
Artist Bio
Amanda is an Australian artist specialising in artists books. She studied ceramics in Brisbane, Queensland, winning the Craft Queensland Prize on graduation. In 2008 Amanda completed a Masters of Fine Art through RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. She explored the idea of change as a central theme in life and expanded the range of media she employs to include artists’ books, installations, photographs and prints. In 2009 Amanda joined the artists' collective and blog Book*Art*Object as a founding member. She has participated in juried exhibitions around Australia, as well as in the US, England and France. Her work is held in private and public collections including Bibliotheca Librorum apud Artificem, the State Library of Queensland, the University of Kent, the University of Melbourne, and the University of Portsmouth.