"The difficulty of a diagnosis for which there is no vaccinations or medicinal cures is both stunning and lofty – the force of facing a life you could have never anticipated. Constant pain. An altered relationship to your own body. What does it mean to exist in a world where your struggles are often categorized as “invisible?” What does it mean when having a body becomes such a trying task? And how do you deal when the intersection of your multiple identities? This documentary short highlights a group of black, queer, chronically ill women in Chicago who are trying to build a community in a world that doesn’t understand their needs. It will speak to their experience of embodiment: dealing with pain, dealing with desire, understanding various ways to speak about what is happening in their bodies – on sometimes, cellular levels" 

Whitney A. Spencer Presents Joy / Pain.

Joy/Pain from Whitney Spencer on Vimeo.