“My art expresses the pain of living with
an illness and the diffi culty I am faced with
when going on long car rides, especially a
road trip.”

Jordan Foster attended the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts until she was forced to withdraw during the eleventh grade due to the effects of interstitial cystitis. This condition results in recurring pain in the bladder and the pelvic region. Jordan was encouraged early on to pursue art by her mother, who is also an artist. She expresses, "When I first became ill, art was my refuge. Expressing pain on paper was necessary because I was going through so much and I didn't know how to handle it." With a regimen of several medications and their side effects, Jordan uses art to unveil the turmoil of her daily routine. "People can't see what’s going on on the outside, but this is what I feel like on the inside. Most of the time my bladder feels completely raw, or like there are shards of broken glass inside," she relays. Jordan works part-time at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens in Jacksonville, Florida.

Interstitial Cystitis, mixed media (12" x 8.5")