Arts: The Air Is Poison

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Behold The Air Is Poison By David Rosenberg Posted Friday, Mar 01, 2013, at 04:00 PM ET Photographer Thilde Jensen began photographing her series "Canaries" a year after coming down with what is known as multiple chemical sensitivity (or MCS), a painful and debilitating condition that radically changed her life. Many people's only exposure to this condition is the Todd Haynes 1995 film Safe. Although not recognized by the American Medical Association, multiple chemical sensitivity is a chronic condition (part of a broader condition known as environmental illness, or EI) in which the immune and central nervous systems are affected, often painfully, by daily exposure to the myriad chemicals that dominate modern society such as perfume, cleaning products, car exhaust, synthetic fabrics, and even printed material. In 2003, Jensen began to get sick while living and working in New York City. Things got so bad she was eventually forced to leave New York, her career in the city, and her marriage to live outdoors in upstate New York and wear a respirator whenever she was in public. She began documenting her experience as well as those of a few folks who were also suffering from the condition. The results eventually became part of "Canaries." "You do feel like an outcast," Jensen explained via email. "But then you realize you are not alone, and there is a wide network of people like you, stuck in what seems like a futuristic nightmare: a parallel dimension of pain and isolation, hard to truly comprehend unless you have been there." Jensen titled the series "Canaries," referring to the use of ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Beyoncé Insults the Rest of Destiny's Child Yet Again I Love You. Now Text Me. Starting a Business Is a Huge Pain	Advertisement
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