Mum With Mastocytosis
Katie Preston-Toepfer
- Sitter: Katie Preston-Toepfer
- Medium: Photograph
- Dimensions: 45cm x 80cm
- Representation: This artist represents themselves
About the artist and artwork
Katie Preston-Toepfer is a writer, creative, business owner and mother to two children. She is currently receiving treatment for a rare, incurable blood disorder at a hospital in Brisbane.
Social platforms have become a creative outlet for Katie, a place to bring awareness to rare diseases and share what it is like living with a chronic illness while navigating parenthood.
‘I was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder, systemic mastocytosis, in 2021. Being a mother with a chronic, incurable, and potentially life-threatening condition is complex, overwhelming, and frightening. However, it also helps you reassess your life, offers perspective, and encourages immense gratitude.’
In this image, Katie is the photographer and the subject as she documents her constantly changing skin which was a recommendation from one of her specialists. Katie is holding her daughter in this photo, showing the world that she is so much more than this disease.
“Never before have I felt such a strong need to model being comfortable in my chronically sick body as when I became a parent."
Behind the scenes
While themes of mortality, parenthood, incurable illness, adversity, and resilience are broached in this artwork, I also felt the strong link and fine line between medical documentation and self-portraiture.
This work is also a show of defiance and demonstrates a sense of pride. Never before have I felt such a strong need to model being comfortable in my chronically sick body as when I became a parent.
I now understood the true importance of modelling self-love and acceptance.
