Rain (IG: rainsbookreviews)
Book Review: Illness and the Art of Creative Self-Expression by John Graham-Pole
“It comes back to something I have told you pretty often in various ways: that it isn't about how good you are as an artist, but about taking your courage and your curiosity on a journey of exploration. You absolutely do not have to have a special gift for making art. All you need is a spirit of adventure and fun, and the belief that your creative intelligence is always there, waiting patiently to serve you and to do you” - John Graham-Pole, Illness and the Art of Creative Self-Expression
Reading Illness and the Art of Creative Self-Expression by John Graham-Pole felt less like reading a book and more like being gently invited into a space of healing, vulnerability, and imagination. Though it’s written with those experiencing illness in mind, its message reaches far beyond that. It's about rediscovering the artist within all of us and realizing that through creative expression, we can make meaning from pain, find peace in chaos, and connect more deeply with ourselves and others.
The book is divided into ten chapters, each focused on a different form of artistic expression—some familiar, others delightfully unexpected. Yes, there’s drawing, writing, and music - the forms you would typically think about when imagining the domain of the arts. But there’s also mention of gardening, storytelling, dance, cooking, and even comedy; Graham-Pole doesn’t limit art to the conventional. Instead, he celebrates the everyday and invites us to see how even the smallest gestures—our morning routines, from how we move from kitchen sink to the fridge itself is a form of choreography, the way we hum to ourselves absentmindedly while waiting for something to print itself a composition—are forms of creation. Especially in a world that often tells us to be productive, performance-based and marketable before expressive, this felt real.
What stood out to me most was the warmth and empathy that radiates from every page. Graham-Pole, a physician and artist, but also a father, grandfather and most of all, human, writes with the soul of a caregiver. The stories he shares—both his own and those of his patients—are raw, tender, and deeply authentic. They don’t sugarcoat the weight of illness, grief, or death. In fact, in many parts, we delve right into the subject without restraint or disclosure. But instead of shying away from those experiences, he shows us through the book how we can transform these worries into something sacred. It shows us how art can be a container for pain, in a soulful and spiritual way, to speak truths that words alone might fumble.
One particular thought from Curt, a testimonial worker featured in the book, stayed with me on his thoughts about creative journalism: “A journal is like a love affair, a life partner, where you can share deepest secrets with a listening, never judging, ear.” That sentiment, that image of being held without judgment by your own creative voice echoing back to you, moved me. It reminded me of the times I’ve turned to writing or music when life felt too heavy, like Rome and their perception of the mind’s imagination and creativity being a human’s “guardian angel”, on how expression can feel like exhaling after holding your breath for too long, or like a mentor holding its hand outstretched to bring you to a new adventure, running through a field of golden flowers under a blue sky of clouds and thoughts wisping by.
Although I am, admittedly, not currently an ill person (which is evidently the intended demographic of this book as the exercises and narrative is centred towards their healing), I still found this book incredibly impactful. Although it must be said that some sections, especially those that directly asked me to reflect on illness in my own life, didn’t quite resonate in a literal sense, they still made me think more broadly about the struggles I have faced, and how I’ve used creativity not solely as an outlet, but as a means of growth. The book’s message—that healing doesn’t mean fixing yourself, but learning to live fully and truthfully—is something anyone can connect to.
Above all, and I find this to be the book’s pinnacle message and strong point, Graham-Pole emphasizes that everyone is an artist, whether or not you believe you have “talent,” whether or not you’ve been told otherwise. The act of creating, of letting go of inner judgment and expressing from the soul, is something we’re all capable of. In that sense, this book speaks for people, and perhaps, in a more meaningful sense, from within them. And it reminds us that through art, we can find ourselves once again, no matter how lost we are, to our own bodies and illnesses or our external troubles.
In a time when life can feel fast, cold, marketable, capitalist, quantity-over-quality and commodified, Illness and the Art of Creative Self-Expression holds itself a profound reminder of the beauty in slowing down, in listening, in making and really, in being. I truly believe it can, and has, changed lives - and it certainly changed something in me :)
Thank you John!
