Student photographer challenges health stereotypes

A photographer has documented life as a young person living with chronic illness in a new exhibition.

Lincoln-based Poppy Bellamy, 22, lives with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome and other conditions - and her work is featured in the Remedy photography festival, taking place in Lincolnshire during June.

The University of Lincoln student said she hoped her work would help to challenge "the stereotype of youth equating to good health".

"Just because you're young doesn't necessarily mean that you've got this amazing health. There are hidden struggles that people don't necessarily put outwardly," she said.

Poppy's condition means she lives with symptoms including dizziness, blurred vision, loss of vision, hearing loss, and fainting, which she said could cause "quite a lot of issues day-to-day".

She added: "I find that every choice I have to make with university, that I think other students don't necessarily have to think about twice, like even going to a lecture. I have to really think about is it worth it in terms of my physical health."

Poppy said documenting illness through photography helped "visualise experiences that oftentimes are quite hidden".

She added: "This project was really important to me because I have peers that are chronically ill and friends that are chronically ill. And I found that they weren't represented in mass media or photography generally."

The photographer said, in the past, she has felt "almost ashamed" about her condition, but capturing life with a chronic illness in pictures had helped changed the way she feels.

She said: "Through this project and kind of showing people that this is the experience, it felt less embarrassing and more that I was proud to show that there's these different experiences and I really wanted to tell people about it.

"It moved from trying to hide it away to trying to educate instead."

The Remedy photography festival features photographers documenting different aspects of health.

It includes exhibitions in Lincoln, Skegness and Sutton-on-Sea, public workshops, a symposium, and a festival weekend at the Barbican Creative Hub in Lincoln from 19–21 June.

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