Your Voice Made Visible

A Storytelling Workshop for the Patient Community: All Bodyminds Welcome

Join artist and chronic illness patient Sal Marx for an interactive workshop that explores how art can help people narrate pain and tell their stories in expressive ways.

Being asked to “Rate” your pain is a routine part of going to the doctor. But have you ever left an appointment feeling that the conversation was inadequate and frustrating to actually convey what your reality feels like? What gets lost in translation by giving your pain a number on a scale? Turning to visual art can be an entry point into helping others understand what you are feeling in your body and mind. Hear how Sal’s visual art practice is both a method for making visible their stories of chronic illness, and a way to connect with community. Through guided creative exercises, everyone will have a chance to create and share something of their own.

CHRONIC IS FOREVER is on view November 6 through December 20, 2026.

SAL MARX is a visual artist, creative director, and chronic illness patient advocate based in Brooklyn, NY.  They have a M.S. in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University, where they completed a multimedia capstone exploring the intersection between visual co-creation and disability justice. They studied Public Policy, Psychology, and Media Studies at Pomona College.  Recently, they were a panelist at the Graphic Medicine Conference at Johns Hopkins, speaking about visual projects within chronic illness communities. They have conducted qualitative research culminating in A Graphic Guide to Palliative Care at the Vienna General Hospital, which is now being adapted for pediatric palliative care use at Akron Children’s Hospital. Sal’s work has been shown in the Lied Art Gallery, the Royal Alberta Museum, and has been published on various platforms including Intima, A Journal of Narrative Medicine; Johns Hopkins University Press, and WebMD.   

Sal serves on the board of directors of Sick Futures Collective and the advocacy board of the Spondylitis Association of America.

Image Descriptions:
1. Art by Sal Marx featuring the text “PAIN SCALE WITH MEANING” and a 3×3 grid of nine abstract line drawings on a black background:m white with blue, yellow, and red markings, that evoke emotions through animated faces including a star, moon, cat, heart, robot, and various amorphic shapes.
2. Positive Exposure Gallery poster with the text “SAL MARX: CHRONIC IS FOREVER” and an image of art featuring two skeletons sitting on a blue bench. The background is black and red, with a white crescent moon, and the foreground is golden yellow. The skeletons are drawn in a semi-abstract way, in thick grey, white, black, yellow, and red marks. Their hands are holding at the center of the blue bench.