SICK SEXTS BY LUCA STANCATO

“Sick Sexts is a series of drawings that explores the erotic nature of rest, and the sensuality of sickness as experienced by people with chronic illness. This series is a depiction of sexts — sexually explicit text messages — between chronically ill, disabled, and immunocompromised friends exchanged throughout the pandemic. It is a declaration of care as romance.
     When sickness defines the relationship one has to their own body, experiences of sensuality and touch are often entangled with feelings of discomfort and pain. Sexts then can become a medium for sensuous self-explorations that aren’t informed by bodily sensations. They can allow for one’s relationship to desire to play out in the act of being witnessed. Together, the drawings survey the pleasures of being seen and witnessing as gestures of care.”

luca stancato is a chronically ill visual artist, dancer, and tarot reader in Brooklyn, New York. Using their home as both performance space and ritual site, luca explores ways to learn and heal through the body — documenting these practices in video, writing, drawing, and performance.