Drawing Life With hEDS – Staying Strong Through Art
Through drawing life with hEDS, I can express how I’m feeling in ways words often can’t.
This body is not broken.
It is working harder than you can see.
I am creating a series of pen-and-ink drawings to raise awareness of hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS) — a connective tissue condition that affects joints, stability, pain, and energy in ways that are often invisible to others.
These works are not diagrams.
They are not medical illustrations.
They are emotional records of what it feels like to live inside a body that must constantly compensate.
Why Art? 🎨
Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is frequently misunderstood because so much of it cannot be seen. The effort. The micro-adjustments. The careful movements. The exhaustion of simply standing upright.
These things don’t show up on scans or photographs.
Art allows me to show what words — and even medicine — often fail to capture.
Through line, imbalance, tension, and restraint, these drawings speak to:
- instability without collapse
- fragility without weakness
- pain without spectacle
About the Series 🧍♀️
This series is work in progress and focuses on figures that are held together, rather than falling apart.
You’ll see:
- joints bound with thread 🧵
- hands supporting themselves
- bodies standing slightly off balance
- tension where stillness should be
The colour palette is limited and intentional. Warm greys form the body. Reds mark the joints — areas of constant awareness. Deep blues represent support systems: braces, adaptations, concentration, and care.
I work primarily with Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens, using their permanence and precision to mirror the quiet persistence required to live with hEDS.
What These Drawings Are (and Are Not) 🤍
These drawings are:
- about endurance
- about adaptation
- about the invisible labour of living in a hypermobile body
They are not:
- meant to shock
- meant to dramatise pain
- meant to define one universal experience
Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome looks different in every body. This work reflects my lived experience, shared in the hope that others might feel seen — or that someone unfamiliar might finally understand.
Drawing Life With hEDS Awareness Through Seeing 👁️
Awareness doesn’t always begin with information.
Sometimes, it begins with recognition.
If you live with hEDS and see yourself in these drawings, you are not imagining your experience.
If you do not live with hEDS and feel unsettled by them, that discomfort is an invitation to look closer.
This is what “fine” can look like.
This is what “still standing” can cost.
Thank You for Looking 🌱
Thank you for taking the time to see this work.
Thank you for sitting with it.
If these drawings help even one person feel less alone — or help someone else understand what hypermobility truly demands — then they have done their job.
This is a work in progress, with new artworks being added over time — please feel free to return and follow its growth.
In this piece, threads symbolise the invisible effort required to hold the body steady when living with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. It reflects both fragility and strength.
What The Body Carries reflects the hidden weight of living with Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. The figure sits folded inward, clutching the organs that feel too heavy, too fragile, too exposed to exist unseen. What is usually contained inside the body is brought outward – a quiet representation of pain, instability, and the effort it takes to just hold oneself together. It speak to the invisible labour of carrying a body that feels both delicate and overwhelming at the same time.
Supporting Hands focuses on the hands and wrists, highlighting the constant awareness and effort required when living with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. The threads represent the subtle supports we rely on, while the red joints convey tension, strain, and resilience.
Bound Together – To be ‘bendy’ is often seen as a gift, but for those with hEDS, it is a constant exercise in structural. This drawing captures the invisible labour of living with hypermobile joints – the way we must metaphorically stitch and ties ourselves together to keep from coming apart. It is a portrait of the strength found in fragile connections.
Reaching Beyond – represents the effort it takes to keep moving forward while living with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. The reaching arm symbolises persistence and determination, while red-highlighted joints reflect pain and strain. The threads represent the subtle supports and constant adjustments needed to keep the body moving.
Holding Myself Up – This piece captures a quiet, intimate moment of self-support, inspired by the experience of living with hypermobile Ehlers–Danlos syndrome (hEDS). The figure sits slightly slumped, one arm crossing the body to gently hold the opposite shoulder—a gesture that is protective, necessary, and reflective of the physical challenges of joint instability. The held arm hangs with subtle fatigue, conveying vulnerability and the effort it takes to stay upright. The bowed head emphasizes introspection, inviting the viewer to connect with the universal experience of carrying oneself through both visible and invisible struggles.
Through delicate posture and minimalistic tension, Holding Myself Up explores resilience, fragility, and the understated strength found in self-care, particularly when navigating a body that requires extra support.
Fig. 1. Ricketts, S. E. (2026). Held Together. [Pen & Ink on Grey Toned Paper]. Private Collection
Fig. 2. Ricketts, S. E. (2026). What The Body Carries. [Pen & Ink on Grey Toned Paper]. Private Collection
Fig. 3. Ricketts, S. E. (2026). Supporting Hands. [Pen & Ink on Grey Toned Paper]. Private Collection
Fig. 4. Ricketts, S. E. (2026). Bound Together. [Pen & Ink on Grey Toned Paper]. Private Collection
Fig. 5. Ricketts, S. E. (2026). Reaching Beyond. [Pen & Ink on Grey Toned Paper]. Private Collection
Fig. 6. Ricketts, S. E. (2026). Holding Myself Up. [Pen & Ink on Grey Toned Paper]. Private Collection