Digestion is supposed to be a simple process where your body breaks down food, taking what it needs, keeping you alive. I didn’t think much about it most of my life. Then one day, my body stopped cooperating. Digestion turned into pain. Swallowing turned into nausea. I was 11 when it started. It took a year to get a diagnosis. My name is Beatriz, I live with neurosarcoidosis, a rare disease where my immune system attacks my brain and nerves. Causing symptoms that affect me every day. Sometimes I lose myself. Art is my way of coping. This drawing is called Digested because that’s how it feels, like I’m being eaten from the inside out. My illness doesn’t just hurt me, it destroys pieces of who I am. The tubes, the organs wrapping around my throat, my body feels against me sometimes, and drawing helps me fight back. I made this piece because sometimes I can’t explain what it feels like. But I can draw it. When people see this, I want them to understand that even in silence… Art is my voice, and as long as I keep creating, my illness will never be able to take my identity. Birth Year: 2007