Set the Seen

Set the SEEN is a free community festival of events that will create a platform for those suffering with an invisible illness to be seen, heard, validated and represented. Inspired by Alice Hattrick’s recent book Ill Feelings, which charts their own experiences with invisible illness, Set the SEEN is organised by someone who, like Alice, has suffered from fibromyalgia for many years. The festival will provide a framework to share the collective experiences of those affected, carers and the curious. 

In the UK, 1 in 5 people suffer from an invisible illness. This number is set to rise with Long Covid. However, public understanding and awareness of invisible illnesses has changed very little in the last 100 years. Yet the common struggle to overcome the daily challenges of living with these illnesses, poor mental health and well-being persists. 

A variety of workshops will be held in order to develop healthy coping strategies, to create awareness around invisible illnesses, to foster a sense of inclusion and develop connections within the local community. They will include creative writing workshops, visual journaling and clay work. There will also be mindfulness and movement sessions that help us to tune into the rhythms of our bodies. Foraging walks to make some herbalism potions will bring us out into Queen’s Park to tap into the healing properties of the nature that surrounds us. 

There will be a series of conversations on the couch at Queen’s Park Arena with some frank talking and potential hilarity, followed by a Q&A to encourage feedback and delve deeper into this complex sphere of issues. We are delighted to announce that Alice Hattrick will be joining us via live stream to participate in a panel discussion with a passionate motley crew that will bring a range of experiences and expertise to the table at the Arena. The panel will include local artist Kirsty Hendry, Dr Sara Mcdonald from Glasgow University’s Institute for Health and Wellbeing and Glasgow Women’s Library’s Jennifer Robinson, whose recent research focuses on feminism, disability and the impact of Long Covid. 

You Will Find Me Here, a photography exhibition that coincides the journey with fibromyalgia and the ever-changing seasons, will be on show throughout the day. The festival will close with a concert by Nevis Ensemble’s twenty-piece orchestra that will explore through music the difficult reality of living with an invisible illness, bringing the community and everything we have learned together to end on a high note. 

All public events at Queen’s Park Arena will be live-streamed and there will be an online forum throughout the festival so that everyone who wishes to participate has the chance, even if they are unable to be physically present. This online forum will stay active after the event which, in addition to on-going community sign-posting, will continue to enrich the Southside of Glasgow and beyond.