My Journey of Discovery through ICU

A new art exhibition for 2026.

In February 2025 I was feeling weird, you know that “not quite myself” weird that's not easy to notice when you live with chronic illness. I followed the advice I was given to go to A&E but I was sure I'd be sent packing, after all it was just the usual auto immune flare. I never expected to be told I had sepsis, let alone three types of sepsis, or to then develop Diabetic Ketoacidosis and spend a week in Intensive Care.

These paintings and poems have been the way I have processed the trauma of being so unwell without even realising it; my time in ICU being cared for by the most amazing team; and the very very slow recovery I journeyed through.

Invisible faces hover wordlessly

Tender in their watch

Near then far away

Unseen hands cradle my fragility

Delicate in their touch

Nudges outside time

A soft touch pulses hope

I sense a faith unspoken

A promise whispered silently

Though they are faceless

Their care is warmth wrapped tight

Holding my fraying seams together

I voyage beyond my fragile frame

Forever grateful

For hands I do not always see

..

On a whim I entered the above painting and poem "Invisible Faces" to the LEVEL Public Open Exhibition 2025. I hoped I might be shortlisted but was shocked and thrilled to receive and email saying

"It's our great pleasure to announce that our First Prize in our 18+ category goes to Emma Major for their piece 'Invisible Faces'."

Emma says: "It is an honour to be chosen as the first place winner of the LEVEL Public Open Exhibition 2025. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share my experience of being cared for by the NHS and celebrate the "Invisible Faces" who saved my life. Creating art and poetry is an essential element of living well with my disabilities and chronic illnesses; releasing and processing my emotions whilst also providing a window into the reality of my life."

...

As well as having my painting hung in the LEVEL gallery all summer which was a true honour, I received a cash prize which has allowed me to develop seven of the series of paintings and poems about my Journey through ICU into a full exhibition.

The exhibition launches exactly a year after my journey through ICU, in February 2026, and will be touring over the coming months and years.

Limited edition prints of the paintings are available to purchase online and at the exhibitions, with the sale of these supporting the Royal Berkshire Hospital.

I have created a full colour art book of the exhibition which will be available to purchase directly from me; and later this year, a book of the paintings and my poetry will be published.

I have also created a Zine (small, self-published booklet focusing on specific interests) which provides another way of finding out more about what it's like to be cared for in ICU, the art exhibition and the accompanying poems.

Here is a digital version of that zine which gives you a glimpse of the paintings and a few words from the poems.

Journey through ICU Digital Zine

If you would like to host this exhibition, purchase a limited edition print, pre order one of the full colour art books or the upcoming book of poetry and paintings then please get in touch.