The chronic pain she can’t escape is now smeared, streaked and splattered across canvases that fellow patients and visitors can’t ignore. A series of emotional paintings by artist and chronic pain survivor Sarah Bigham are currently on display at the Chester County Hospital Foundation.

The body suffers; the mind creates.

“I have found it challenging to not only explain my pain to others but to see my health history told in charts, lists, forms and electronic medical records,” Bigham said in an announcement on The Town Dish by Michele Kornegay.

“To me, being a chronic pain survivor and warrior encompasses color and narrative, and I have searched for ways to share my story of chronic pain, one shared by millions of people, in more expressive ways.”

Bigham’s artwork is literally composed of colorful supplements and medications dissolved in water. It is titled “Medical History Reimagined.”

“My hope is that this artwork will convey the pain and hope of my story, and may inspire empathy and compassion for those with chronic pain. Sometimes the deepest, most unbearable pain is the kind you cannot see,” she said in the article.

Read more about Bigham’s artwork and the Chester County Hospital exhibit in The Town Dish here.