A collection of artworks, photographs and poetry created by people living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, also known as ME/CFS) are on display at Lismore Library until
June 14.

The works are part of a travelling exhibition to highlight an illness that is thought to affect around 50,000 Australians. They were collected by Kirrily Anderson, who is herself a ME/CFS sufferer and has been mostly housebound and bedridden since she was 25.

“Like a meditation I could escape a little when I was drawing or making art. I found that being creative really allowed me to achieve something while my body was in this state of ill health,” she said.

Kirrily then set about collecting artworks from ME/CFS sufferers all over the world that have been featured in a book called Creative for a Second.

According to Dan Smith, who is the events co-ordinator with the ME/CFS Society of NSW, nobody is sure what causes Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but it comes from a trauma of some description such as an infection, an accident or an emotional trauma. The symptoms include crushing fatigue, body pain and digestive sensitivity.