Among other things, I have learnt from my family that caregiving is a two-way street. They cared for me and I cared for them. I still care for my mum and she still cares for me.<\/p>\n
The waiting room has been a metaphor for my life, and in my new artworks I explore the concept of waiting. <\/p>\n
The art of waiting<\/p>\n
Waiting rooms as a carer are very different to the experience of being a patient. I stand, sit and lay next to the care-receiver, witnessing someone else\u2019s experience. I am the advocate, note taker, facilitator, taxi driver, ticket taker. The person who tells the receptionist we are here (because the bench is too high if you are a wheelchair user). The person who makes sure they speak to my mother, not me. <\/p>\n
Being a carer is political, and I prepare for the experience in the waiting room. <\/p>\n
There are three million carers in Australia<\/a>: approximately one in every eight people is currently giving care. But that number isn\u2019t definitive due to underreporting. Not everyone who cares identifies as a caregiver. <\/p>\n If you aren\u2019t already giving or receiving care, it is probable that one day you will be. <\/p>\n Waiting is contemplative: it is feeling anxiety, it is sitting, it is pacing, it is waiting to be called to another room where something else happens, or (fun) more waiting. <\/p>\n When does waiting start and end? At the start or end of a diagnosis, a solid idea, or a plan? Are we just always stuck in the waiting room? Waiting for a medication to work, waiting to see if symptoms persist, waiting for something to work. <\/p>\n There is hope in the waiting, even when the waiting seems infinite. There is hope in the waiting, even when the waiting seems infinite.<\/p>\n Caregivers actively wait for the duration of time that it takes to give care, and the care-receiver actively waits for care. Time travels differently for caregivers and receivers: it moves to and with another\u2019s time. <\/p>\n The time it takes to wait for an appointment; waiting for your number to be called; waiting for your care-receiver\u2019s way of moving; waiting for a caregiver. It is constant and consistent waiting. It is constant and consistent time, yours and not yours. It is a liminal space driven by the very action of waiting for another. It is limbo with the definitive action (care), a definitive need without a definitive time.<\/p>\n Waiting for art<\/p>\n My artwork, Life\u2019s a Waiting Room, invites gallery visitors to experience the complexities of waiting as a carer. <\/p>\n The installation comprises three photographic works and a participatory installation of a waiting room. The photographic works are three x-ray boxes that reflect on my lived experience in waiting rooms. <\/p>\n In each x-ray box, there are images of me waiting with members of my family: old photographs that reflect on the fact that waiting doesn\u2019t just happen in the waiting room. <\/p>\n The waiting is also outside medical spaces. <\/p>\n In each x-ray box, there are images of me waiting with members of my family. In the harder times of waiting, I would take photos to revisit later and reflect on what we had experienced and witnessed. It helped me revise and see the invisible aspects in image form. <\/p>\n They are from waiting rooms, medical tests, out in the world, and at home. I inverted the images and made them look like x-rays. X-rays reveal the inner body. <\/p>\n With this I want to show the inner workings of care and waiting from my personal familial image archive.<\/p>\n Each member of my family has\/had difficult medical needs. I learnt about my mortality very early on in my caregiver experience, as I was faced with my own waiting room needs. <\/p>\n Waiting rooms are a space where the experience of waiting for care is visible. Both waiting and care are invisible. Waiting rooms are a space where the experience of waiting for care is visible. <\/p>\n In my installation, you take a ticket at Life\u2019s a waiting room clinic. You sit and wait for your number to be called. The screen flashes a number, but it never displays the number of your ticket. The audience is invited to sit for as long as they are willing. <\/p>\n Life is a Waiting Room is in The Local 2025 at the McGlade Gallery<\/a>, Sydney, until August 17. <\/p>\n![\"Pens](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/file-20250801-56-bpabiu.jpg\")
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\n Danica I. J. Kne\u017eevi\u0107, CC BY-SA<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Blue](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/file-20250801-56-cd5wgj.jpg\")
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\n Danica I. J. Kne\u017eevi\u0107, CC BY-SA<\/a><\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/file-20250801-56-a0kjlx.jpg\")
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\n Danica I. J. Kne\u017eevi\u0107, CC BY-SA<\/a><\/p>\n