DISEASE SERIES | Carly Bergey

Clockwise from top left: Celiac, ALS, Lupus, Hashimoto’s, Ehlers-Danlos, Squamos Cell

“These pieces are inspired by the histology slides of various diseases I see often in patients I treat in my private voice therapy practice. There is a dark beauty in the cells of my patients and in painting these I find a strange ability to hold space for all I feel for these patients as I work with them. Created using encaustic medium (beeswax + pigment), then shellac-manipulated with a blowtorch. Encaustic medium is a particularly delicate and dynamic format that I am very grateful to have discovered.

Carly Bergey is a medical speech language pathologist and writer. Her nonfiction work has previously been published in Intima, CHEST, Full Grown People and Pulse. Bergey continues to create at the intersection of where patient and provider narratives meet. As an SLP on the edge of burnout, she has been drawn to visual medium to reflect on her work as a medical professional. Not surprisingly, this creative work has fueled a deeper meaning within her draw to clinical work.