Eugénie Frerichs lives and works in Portland, Oregon. REMEDY is the second chapter in her on-going series ,THE SUBCONSCIOUS IS FEELING OPTIMISTIC, a photographic tale of the highs and lows of the chronically ill. This project is funded in part by the Regional Arts & Culture Council.
There are a million and one ways to be sick. For me, having a chronic illness has, for the most part, been a visual journey. I am hoping it will not always be this way, but for the time being, I am mildly obsessed with documenting (or, in some cases, recreating) my wobbly course through the medical system, as an early-30's someone who is dealing with a thing that isn't exactly cancer, but isn't exactly not cancer, either. Since this adventure started 15 months ago, the people, places, and objects that have come into my life have generally been so foreign and/or bizarre, that I feel like a tourist, wanting to photograph it all, to share with the folks back home.
REMEDY chronicles the objects and artifacts that have been given to me by others as recommended means for remedying my condition. Some have been more successful than others. All are worth remembering. And while I can't make sense of everything just yet, it is my assumption that someday, once I have finally gathered all the evidence, the collections of photos in my SUBCONSCIOUS series will effectively reflect back to me What the hell just happened. And that, I hope, will be a good story.
