'Iconic Fatigue' art installation

September 2026

Bespoke textile design by Charlotte Raffo

Project: 'Iconic Fatigue' by Polite Rebellion

Supported by Arts Council England and the University of Leeds

Project Overview

Iconic Fatigue is a series of beds, each upholstered in a textile which tells the story of a person with an energy limiting illness. 

You are invited to lie in the bed, put on headphones, and listen to each individual talk about their experience of living with chronic fatigue.

Charlotte Raffo was asked to create a textile design to reflect the experience of photographer Lizzie Coombes.

Creating the Design

Through a number of meetings with Lizzie, and listening to an extensive recording of her talking through her experience of her illness, Charlotte created key themes for the design.

As with all her designs, Charlotte began by sketching her ideas at actual scale onto paper.

Starting with the structure of the print to incorporate Lizzie's images, and then layering further elements each with meaning on top.

Charlotte then moved into creating the design in Photoshop, using Lizzie's actual photography as a diary recording her life over many years living with this illness.

The Final Design

'The textile explores the contrasts between the very flat life Lizzie lived during the worst phases of her illness, and the colourful three dimensional world she is now able to inhabit most of the time. 

As Lizzie is a photographer I incorporated her work into the design, creating a diary of her life through the ups and downs of her illness.

The pictures begin with the claustrophobic photos Lizzie took whilst her health was at its worst, giving way to her later instagram pictures which show her life becoming more free and colourful as her health improves.

In the design the framing of the photos also reflects the state of Lizzie’s health. 

Grubby tile grout surrounds the images of her more difficult days - making these pictures appear flat and one dimensional.

The later more positive photographs are displayed as windows with a three dimensional frame, showing that she can see to the outside world, and suggesting that there is a future beyond the suffocating enclosed walls of her home.

Some of the windows and tiles are frosted - the outside world is not yet completely clear.

When Lizzie was very ill she expressed herself from the confines of her bedroom, festooning it with fairy lights and artificial flowers.

As her health improved she was able to engage with nature and the outside world - the colour and decoration began to come from reality rather than being artificial.

Recovery and illness are not linear for Lizzie. 

The painted in foliage that is layered over the top of the windows has a dream like, surreal quality, blurring in and out of focus, representing the outside world coming into focus and then fading away.

There is a subtle transition from artificial to real flowers. The woody ivy stems come in and out of focus, some of them are so solid that they can weave in and out of the window frames as if it were a trellis. Some days the the fairy lights are on, some days the bulbs no longer work.

When the beautiful real rose dies and looses its petals, they lie on top of the flat tiles like fading confetti.' - Charlotte Raffo

Six beds will soon be touring the UK to spread awareness of this often misunderstood illness