This December, we mourn the passing of dear community member Judith Schoßböck of Black Ferk Studio. Judith was an incredible artist and an even more incredible human being who did so much to bring joy and lightness to everyone she encountered. She sent many cards through the Chronic Market project and was a passionate advocate for disability justice; the images here just a few of the cards she sent to fellow patients through our card project. Judith’s ME/CFS and MCAS was progressively deteriorating and she could no longer tolerate more than 100 calories a day, even water was not possible at the end, let alone any medicine that could begin to relieve her pain, so she chose a compassionate exit for herself, which was available to her living in Austria. Her art and life was all in partnership with her partner Matthias who helped get cards in the mail when she could no longer leave her bed. At the end Judith could no longer even have him in the room; after three months the couple managed five minutes together but was too much for Judith to even bear that time with her beloved as sick as she was.
Judith was so upbeat in her communications even to the very end – she had this dove and mushroom card via her partner just a few weeks before her death and emailed kind words about the impact of our work for the chronically ill community, signed with lots of winky faces, love notes, hahas and Iggy Pop quotes, and her signature pig nose and hibiscus flower emoji combo. She was at peace with her life and her choice, a sign of a life well lived, despite her extreme hardships.
Her joyful and powerful art can continue to be appreciated at the Black Ferk Studio website. Click here to read her entree to the Chronic Market, which shares more about her work’s mission. As Judith wrote at the time, “This isn’t always easy and a bit crazy with this severity of illness, but art and activism as a form of creating visibility and connection can go so well together – and create meaning in an otherwise precarious existence. And that our artistic expressions can be meaningful, moving, or a joy for others means a lot.”
🐽 🌺 🐽 🌺 🐽 🌺 🐽
