A lot of my paintings are small pieces, because I use small brushes. I have this theory myself that the small brush can get into places where the big brush can’t go. With all your pains and aches, it can get into all the cracks and crevices that are appearing. It can smooth away any problems you’re having.”
Those are the words of Seamus Burke, an artist and poet from Co Mayo. Seamus lives with multiple sclerosis (MS) and uses art as a way to express his feelings around MS.
“A lot of people with MS are very slow to say their feelings, in a way,” Seamus says. “They just keep their feelings to themselves, which is the most wrong thing in the world to do. As the old saying goes: ‘A problem shared, is a problem halved.’”
Expression
Seamus is from a farm in Partry, Co Mayo, and art – in one way or another – has almost always been a part of his life. Prior to becoming an artist, for 32 years, he worked with people with learning disabilities. In this role he created and facilitated a lot of art projects. At the end of each project, he always held an exhibition, to show what people with learning disabilities can do.
“I spent years trying to develop projects to highlight people with learning disabilities’ abilities rather than their disabilities. When my own disability knocked on the door, I had to leave my job and art was there to save me.”
Seamus had already been studying fine art at Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT, now Atlantic Technical University) with the view of furthering his knowledge of art for his job, when he was diagnosed with MS in 2001.
His diagnosis was a shock, but Seamus says he tried to look for positives and find new ways of doing things. That said, MS was and is something that he battles with daily.
“I’ve often described MS as something that I fight with on a daily basis,” Seamus explains. “Some of my paintings would show that fight. Actually, the first one I did that was put up on Facebook shows two deer locked in combat with their antlers.
“The fight is so intense that if you looked closely at the painting, you see that their eyes are actually a bit bloodshot from the sheer force; one trying to get the upper hand on the other.
“I’ve always tried to put some kind of an image up there that I’m fighting against MS. It’s not something that’s written down, that it’s a medical condition and you leave it at that. I have to put some kind of shape on it, just grab hold of it and say: Hey, there’s two in this fight. As far as I’m concerned, I’m going to be the one that’s standing tall at the end of it. Not you.’”
Exhibition
Seamus regularly posts his paintings on the MS Ireland facebook page, which allows him to be in touch with a community of people living with MS. He has exhibited his paintings several times, much of which has been themed around MS.
Most recently he was one of the artists living with MS who exhibited at the Art of MS – Symptoms Under the Spotlight. This exhibition took place at the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute in Dublin recently. It featured 12 original artworks.
Each piece depicts a symptom of the disease or the artist’s experience of living with MS. The overall aim of the exhibition is to raise awareness of the wide-ranging symptoms of MS and how these impact the lives of the artists.
Seamus’s piece, entitled Pouring Out My Troubles, was inspired by a poem he wrote of the same name. It depicts a teapot, the handle in the shape of an ‘M’ and the spout in the shape of an ‘S’, pouring out some of the symptoms he experiences.
I’m actually doing something useful in my painting. It’s great that my stuff is helping someone else as well as helping me
It was great, Seamus says, to be able to connect with others he interacted with for so long online. Having this community, he explains, is important.
“My paintings go up on MS Ireland’s Facebook page, normally every Friday. A fair few people with MS and other conditions follow me. They find something in it. That in a way helps me as well. I’m actually doing something useful in my painting. It’s great that my stuff is helping someone else as well as helping me.”
For anyone living with a disability, Seamus would encourage them to get involved in some form of art, whether it be painting, music, writing or whatever they feel is the best way to express themselves.
“One thing that I would be pushing is to make sure that there’s more involvement in the whole arts area – be it painting or music or whatever – to help people with MS and other disabilities to come to terms with whatever they’re suffering from. It will answer a lot of questions for them.”
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