By Liz Babiarz
Georgia State University graduate student Jessica Blinkhorn’s graphite drawings are no bigger than 5x7 inches, but the impact they deliver is immense.
Take her piece “Grasp,” a recreation of a memory from when she was three years old, the last time she remembers walking without assistance. In the drawing, which is as realistic as a photograph, Blinkhorn is grasping a door frame about to walk down a hallway as she looks up to the viewer with wonderment in her eyes.
Her work is beautiful but it also has all of this content," said Cheryl Goldsleger, academic director of the Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design at GSU. “It is quite powerful and moving.”
Arguably, the work becomes even more powerful after you meet the artist who is producing it.
Blinkhorn, a Master’s of Fine Arts degree candidate in drawing, painting and printmaking, suffers from spinal muscular atrophy, a hereditary, neuromuscular disease. The condition has left her in a wheelchair without the use of her legs, arms and left hand. She only has a short period of time that she will be able to use her right hand as well.
Even so, Blinkhorn continues to produce drawings, creative writing pieces and performance art. She was recently honored by the Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design and is currently teaching an introductory drawing course this semester at GSU.
Her motivating story will be featured on ABC’s Good Morning America on Saturday, Sept. 5.
Using a graphite pencil and a paintbrush, Jessica creates small visual documentations of her surroundings, childhood memories, people in her life and her physical form. Because of the carpal tunnel in her wrist and cysts on her knuckles, she can only work for four hours before her joint swell and she gets tremors.
Blinkhorn’s drawings sometimes have a precious quality like in “Grasp” or another called “Siblings,” a picture of three woodlouse bugs, also known as “roly poly bugs.” They symbolize her, her brother and sister, all of whom were diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy and use wheelchairs. Other times, Blinkhorn’s images are raw and unapologetic, such as her nude self portraits that show how the disease has altered her body.
“I’m not apologetic about who I am – I’m disabled, I’m husky, I’m covered with tattoos,” Blinkhorn says. “I wear my imperfections. I’ve stopped caring about judgments. No matter how many eyes look at me, I am who I am it’s not going to change. I just want to be acknowledged, that’s the first step and then acceptance.”
Spinal muscular atrophy is caused by an abnormal or missing gene known as the survival motor neuron gene, which is responsible for the production of a protein essential to motor neurons. Without this protein, lower motor neurons in the spinal cord degenerate and die.
Blinkhorn was diagnosed at 19 months and given a life expectancy of three years. Her sister, Erica, was also diagnosed with the condition, as was her brother, Gerald or J.B. for short, who died at the age of 27.
Blinkhorn walked until the age of three, and walked with assistance until 7. At 10, she underwent a surgery that implanted a steel rod from her neck to the base of her spine to stop her progressive scoliosis, a side effect of her condition. She was bed ridden for month after the surgery, which caused her muscles to atrophy.
Today, Blinkhorn does not have use of her legs and cannot raise her arms. The atrophy has also begun to hamper the artist’s key tool – her hands. Her left hand doesn’t move much and is “just for balance,” while her right has a limited scope of movement, she said.
“I’m not going to be able to use my hands, it’s just a fact,” Blinkhorn said. “I think it’s a matter of how you go about life. I try to stay as active as possible … I’m lucky, I’m luckier than a lot of people with MD and without MD.”
Indeed, Blinkhorn is staying busy. Not only is she drawing, she’s also experimenting with performance art, creative writing, photography and sculpture. In her studio hangs a sculpture she made, casting her hands with a healthy person’s hands, comparing how hers are degenerating over several months.
Blinkhorn explores many complex issues through the different artistic outlets. She challenges people’s thoughts on everyday routines such as turning on a light or opening a door. She opens people’s eyes to what life is like living with a disability and answers questions many people might be afraid to ask. She experiments with the idea of transcending her condition.
“Jessica takes so many chances,” said Craig Dongoski, associate professor of drawing, painting and printmaking. “I’ve taught for 20 years and I’ve never encountered someone who has the guts, courageousness and willingness to open themselves up like she does. And when we look at art historically, the artists that remain are the ones that take those kinds of chances.”
She is working on a book titled, “Stories from a Chair: the writing and works of a bound artist.” Her hope is to eventually combine her drawings and writings into one book to tell the story of her life.
Blinkhorn is also interested in teaching. She is teaching a drawing course this semester and hopes to give her students a different perspective on life and greater confidence in drawing.
“I like teaching people, communicating, opening myself up to people because at the end of the day, I will sleep well knowing I gave all of myself,” she said.
Many people who meet Blinkhorn are inspired by her work, but Blinkhorn says she doesn’t want to be an inspiration.
“Let this motivate you and give you drive to … do something,” she said.