Norwich student shares artwork inspired by chronic illness

A student whose artwork was inspired by her chronic health conditions has said she will “keep drawing stoma bags until everyone knows they exist”.

Poppy Cahill, 21, from Beccles, Suffolk, shares the prints, drawings and paintings on social media “to show the importance of openness”.

The fine art student at Norwich University of the Arts said the project, called Chronically Beautiful, had been a therapeutic tool for her.

She said the response to it had been “so positive”.

Ms Cahill grew up with eczema, a condition that causes the skin to become itchy, dry and cracked.

“It was very hard growing up with eczema as a teen, I was very self-conscious and spent a lot of time trying to keep it under control,” she said.

She spent a lot of her teen life “waiting for the cure” and “this positive representation would have been great to see at the time”.

At 16 she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis after years of symptoms – a condition where the colon and rectum become inflamed.

She had colostomy surgery two days before her 19th birthday and now lives with a stoma bag which she includes in her art.

Her university tutors encouraged her to use her work to express her personal experiences.

Ms Cahill hopes to continue sharing her work to raise awareness, and said she wanted to learn more about art therapy and the potential of becoming an art teacher after university.

“I post on social media to try and break the stigma around stomas and chronic illness,” she said.

“If we take away the stigma, then people can get diagnosed sooner and feel more comfortable talking about it because it’s important.

“I hope to reduce the taboo associated with a stoma bag because it saved my life and can potentially save a lot of others.”