Illustration by Anna Neshyba titled “Why Don’t You Do Yoga?” An image of two figures, the one on the left is asking the one on the right why they don’t do yoga. The figure on the right is bedraggled, and has several braces on.

I often feel as though I am being haunted by pain. That pain is a creeping specter that follows me everywhere I go, everything I do; and I can’t focus on living, because I have to spend all of my time and energy fighting to keep her from possessing me completely. I have to make sacrifice after sacrifice to stave her off…

An artist statement for “Flesh Fruit,” 2022