Meaningful artwork where chronic illness, disability and beauty coexist on canvas.
“I paint so young people with illness and disabilities grow up seeing themselves as something beautiful and worthy of art.”
Elina Isabella is an Australian Deaf narrative painter living and working in tropical Far North Queensland. Her practice is shaped by lived experience, perseverance, and an intimate relationship with the body, perception, and light.
After the sudden loss of hearing, vision, and physical function at seventeen—alongside living with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome—art became an unexpected part of Elina’s physical recovery. What began as digital tracing when holding a pen was impossible slowly evolved into large-scale mixed-media oil paintings, created through adaptive processes developed to meet her access needs.
Working from her bed, a wheelchair-accessible easel, and gradually standing with physiotherapy support, Elina paints figures suspended in softness and contrast, vivid colour and immersive light. Her work offers a tender counter-narrative to traditional representations of disability—centred on dignity, visibility, and quiet strength.
What the community is saying about our artworks
I love waking up to my original Depths of M.E. But I was so incredibly surprised and impressed with how much the canvas print looks like the original. I simply could not tell them apart, until I just gently brushed my fingers across the surface of the printed canvas (with permission of course), wow it is an incredible likeness!! ❤️
In awe at the detail and quality of the print. I can see every detail of this magical painting and am in love with it. A little slice of heaven on my wall. Thankyou Elina
Incredible, can't believe you made me sit down for 30 minutes to translate this braille
LOST MOMENTS
Capturing a young woman with a feeding tube, the golden light flickers represent “All the Lost moments” of youth and normality whilst navigating illness as a young person,
Time keeps ticking no matter how hard you wish it would slow down and let you catch up. your world looks different to those on the outside, things work in a way others don’t always understand.
But you learn to find comfort in between the chaos, like a secret garden a whole world forms in between those four walls.
“This work isn’t about chronic illness and disability as a spectacle. It’s about presence .About being seen gently, honestly, and without explanation.”
Handpicked Favourites
Story driven art painted to make you feel seen, heard and understood.