Lorie Novak – photographer, artist and fellow migraine sufferer – has created a painfully real portrait of what if looks and feels like to have a migraine. Her site, called 100 Migraines, is a collection of vivid self portraits taken while in the throes of a migraine.
I have chronic migraine syndrome, and currently have an average of ten to fifteen episodes a month. They began when I was eight years old. I grew up at a time when migraines were not considered a medical condition, as they are now, but an emotional one. As a child and adolescent, I was told I worked too hard, did too much, and was too stressed out. In other words, it was my fault. In my thirties, I read the essay “In Bed” by Joan Didion in which she gives voice to her migraine suffering through words. It was a life-changing moment. In 2009, approximately twenty-five years after reading “In Bed,” I began to photograph myself every time I have a migraine, and have amassed over 700 self-portraits. When I have a migraine, all I want to do is leave my body so I won’t feel the pain. If I am in a semifunctional state, my laptop is my escape—it allows me to ignore my body and, by photographing myself, see my body. I can express what I can’t articulate and make the pain visible.
If you’re wondering what it looks like to have a migraine, just compare these two pics of Lorie with
and without a headache.
I feel your pain, Lorie…
I encourage you to visit the site, which also includes a resource list and information for migraine sufferers.
