Arist with motor neurone disease exhibits work painted using eye movements
Sarah Ezekiel with her exhibition. Picture: Adam Thomas. - Credit: Archant
A mother-of-two who has been left paralysed by motor neurone disease (MND) has exhibited artwork produced using special technology that tracks her eye movements.
Sarah Ezekiel has become one of the world’s leading eye artists since being diagnosed with the degenerative neurological condition 15 years ago and enjoyed a two-week exhibition of her work at Marie Curie Hospice in Hampstead earlier this month.
The 49-year-old, who is a day therapy patient at the hospice in Lyndhurst Gardens, has been left profoundly disabled by MND which is incurable and ultimately terminal.
In 2012, Ms Ezekiel began painting using the Tobii PCEye machine, which tracks her eye movements using an infra red beam to enable her to create paintings on a computer.
“When I was diagnosed at 34 I didn’t want to come and hang out at a hospice,” she said. “But my brother brought me here and it was then that my life began to improve.
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“I wouldn’t be around today if it wasn’t for all the staff here. I am now around for my children and able to be the artist I always wanted to be.”
Ms Ezekiel’s exhibition, titled Digital Nature, was on display at the hospice between June 14 and 26. The exhibition, Ms Ezekiel’s exploration of natural subjects, helped to raise funds for the hospice.
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Her art has been exhibited across the UK and also at the Katara Art Centre in Qatar.
Jackie Laidlaw, manager of the Marie Curie Hospice in Hampstead, said “We were so excited that Sarah chose to display her work to raise funds for the hospice. Her story is truly inspirational.”
To find out more about Marie Curie hospices or to donate, visit mariecurie.org.uk. If you wish to find out more about Motor Neurone Disease and support research into the disease, visit mndassociation.org
