Frances Bukovsky: Multiple Bodies
The mental ramifications of undergoing multiple hospitalizations, life-altering surgery, and experiencing a life-threatening illness in a short period of time has stretched so far into this time of social isolation that it has resulted in multiple bodies of work occurring simultaneously. Each of these bodies of work speaks to the inner and outer worlds I find myself in as I contemplate the experiences of my body.
As someone who has undergone misguided medical treatment for years and lived within a chronically ill body for my entire life, I have turned to self-portraiture not only as a way to reclaim my own narrative but as a way of processing moments of mental and physical intensity.
My work as a photographer is almost inseparable from my own inner-work. Healing, digging through trauma, and exploring my inner psyche has been made accessible to me by photography, and photography is made possible by the work I do on my own mind and body. I am a radically different person than I was before severe illness, but I am also more myself than I have ever been because of the lens through which I have been able to examine myself.
As the first few cases of COVID entered Florida I was in the hospital with my own health issues. As the stay at home orders were issued I felt as if the world had slowed down to my pace for the first time. I saw the echoes of my own trauma everywhere, in the people who were experiencing self-isolation and fear for their health for the first time, and in the widespread disregard for public health that hinted at the lack of empathy I’ve experienced as a sick person.
I began to regain health inversely proportional to America I began to feel the weight of the pandemic more and more. I began fearing for my family who all deal with chronic conditions, and began to see the patterns of disregard grow within society. In my work, I began to see the effects of COVID, the masks, the reliance on family, but also the desire for self-reliance and solitude. I focused on routines, the haircuts, the way doctors appointments changed, and the images of real-life became somehow darker than the sterile images I was making about my life post-hysterectomy.
Frances Bukovsky is a multimedia artist who was born in rural Upstate NY and currently lives in Port Salerno, FL. She earned a BFA with Honors in Photography and Imaging from Ringling College of Art and Design in 2018.
Bukovsky is interested in conveying intense experiences through her work, with a focus on health and illness. Family, gender, and memory find themselves intrinsically linked to the experience of being a chronically ill artist and she pries apart daily routine and intimate spaces to explore her relationship to physical and mental health.
Exhibition spaces that have shown Bukovsky’s work include Diane Roskamp Exhibition Hall and Art Ovation in Sarasota, FL, as well as online exhibition spaces including Light Leaked, Don’t Smile, and Humble Arts Foundation.
Currently, Bukovsky continues to explore themes of health, gender, family, and memory through her photographic work. In her upcoming book titled Vessel she explores life after a hysterectomy and rejects the imposed narratives of femaleness that have outlined her struggle for comprehensive, informed treatment.