Media & Press Kit
Thank you for your interest in covering the Chronic Pain Project.
This work is deeply personal to our founder and board. People living with chronic pain are often isolated and alone because most conditions are invisible to others. We created this organization to change that—to give artists a way to make their experiences visible and to help them feel less alone in what they're going through. Learn more about our community here.
This page contains everything you need to write about our organization, including our story, key facts, downloadable images, and current news.
We're happy to arrange interviews with our founder or connect you with participating artists who can share their experiences firsthand. Contact Us for media inquiries.
Press Release
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Illuminating the Invisible: The Beauty Behind the Pain" Opens March 1 with Free Public Open House
PORTLAND, OR – The Chronic Pain Project presents "Illuminating the Invisible: The Beauty Behind the Pain," featuring artwork from over 40 artists spanning Portland, the United States, and international communities in the UK, Germany, and Switzerland. The exhibition runs March 1 through May 31, 2026, across three galleries—including the inaugural QK gallery—at Taborspace, 5441 SE Belmont St in Portland, Oregon.
Six new artists join returning participants in this fourth major exhibition, creating space for perspectives that traditional galleries rarely show. Through painting, fiber arts, textiles, mixed media, and other visual forms, these artists make visible what millions experience but few understand.
"This exhibition creates a different kind of conversation about chronic pain," said Janna Kimel, Executive Director and founder of the Chronic Pain Project. "Artists are sharing what they know from living it—not as subjects of someone else's research, but as experts of their own experience."
The work explores isolation and connection, frustration and resilience, the particular challenge of invisible illness, and unexpected beauty within struggle. Artist Jenn created a dress covered in unsolicited advice—meditation, yoga, "just relax"—words that people have thrown at her for over 20 years of living with migraines. "Wouldn't it be nice if people could just see all the suggestions everyone else has already made?" she explains. The back of the dress displays labels and diagnoses that have been "slapped on" without her full participation in the conversation.
Leah Ziegler's self-portrait captures something more specific: the moment between pain and healing. "It ended up being a snapshot of where I am today," she says, "understanding the pain I've been in, but knowing I won't stay here."
For artist Katalina M., who began painting after brain surgery in 2010, the creative process itself became discovery: "I'm not in pain when I'm painting."
Georgia O'Keefe once observed, "I found that I could say things with color and shapes that I had no words for"—a truth that runs through every piece in this collection.
The Chronic Pain Project, founded in 2023, creates visibility for artists living with chronic pain through exhibitions, workshops, support groups, and community programming. Videos of participating artists discussing their work are available at youtube.com/@chronic-pain-project.
Exhibition Details:
What: "Illuminating the Invisible: The Beauty Behind the Pain"
When: March 1–May 29, 2026
Where: Taborspace, 5441 SE Belmont St, Portland, Oregon
Gallery Hours: Open during Taborspace's regular hours
Open House: Saturday, April 11, 3-5 pm
Artist presentations and pre-recorded videos
Light refreshments
All ages welcome
Admission: Free
Accessibility: Fully wheelchair accessible
For more information, visit chronicpainproject.org or follow @chronicpainprojectpdx on Instagram.
Media Contact: Janna Kimel, Executive Director The Chronic Pain Project
Participating artists are available for interviews. Please contact Janna Kimel to arrange.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Illuminating the Invisible: The Beauty Behind the Pain" Opens January 8 at Southwest Community Center
PORTLAND, OR – The Chronic Pain Project presents its third major exhibition featuring over 30 artists from Portland, across the United States, and internationally from the UK, Germany, and Switzerland. "Illuminating the Invisible: The Beauty Behind the Pain" runs January 8 through February 19, 2026, at Portland's Southwest Community Center.
The exhibition creates visibility for artists whose work emerges from lived experience with chronic pain—perspectives rarely seen in traditional gallery spaces. Through painting, fiber arts, mixed media, and other visual forms, these artists transform invisible experiences into powerful visual stories.
"People with chronic pain know their own stories better than any researcher or clinician," said Janna Kimel, Executive Director and founder of the Chronic Pain Project. "This exhibition isn't about studying chronic pain from the outside—it's about creating space for artists to share what they know, what they've lived, and what they've created from that experience."
The exhibition includes works that explore themes of isolation, resilience, the frustration of invisible illness, and unexpected moments of beauty within struggle. Each piece offers viewers a window into experiences that affect millions but remain largely unseen in public discourse.
Artist Leah Ziegler painted a self-portrait capturing the precipice between pain and healing. "It really ended up being a snapshot of where I am today," Ziegler explains, "understanding and knowing the pain I've been in, but also knowing I won't stay here."
Katalina M., who began painting after brain surgery in 2010, discovered something powerful through her art practice: "I'm not in pain when I'm painting."
As artist Georgia O'Keefe once said, "I found that I could say things with color and shapes that I had no words for"—a sentiment that resonates throughout this collection of works born from lived experience.
The Chronic Pain Project was founded in 2023 to amplify voices of artists living with chronic pain through curated exhibitions, workshops, and community programming. Short videos of participating artists discussing their work are available on the organization's YouTube channel at youtube.com/@chronic-pain-project.
Exhibition Details:
What: "Illuminating the Invisible: The Beauty Behind the Pain"
When: January 8 - February 19, 2026
Where: Southwest Community Center, 6820 SW 45th Ave, Portland, OR
Opening Reception: Thursday, January 8th, 6-7:30PM
Admission: Free
For more information, visit chronicpainproject.org or follow @chronicpainprojectpdx on Instagram.
Media Contact: Janna Kimel, Executive Director The Chronic Pain Project
Participating artists are available for interviews. Please contact Janna Kimel to arrange.
About our founder
Janna Kimel has lived with chronic pain since age 10, receiving a migraine diagnosis in her 20s and a fibromyalgia diagnosis in her late 30s. For years, she managed her conditions quietly—cancelling plans, struggling to keep up at work, feeling isolated in an experience that few people around her understood. Social media eventually helped her realize she wasn't alone, and that realization planted the seed for what would become the Chronic Pain Project.
The idea took shape while Janna worked as a UX researcher at a company offering remote physical therapy for people with chronic musculoskeletal pain. There, she was able to be open about her own pain at work for the first time. She proposed an initiative where customers would create art depicting their experiences to display in the office, helping employees better understand the people they served. The startup lacked the resources and time to pursue the project, but Janna couldn't let the idea go.
When she left the company, she took the concept with her. Drawing on more than 20 years of UX research experience at organizations including Providence Health, Dexcom, Cambia, and Hinge Health, she founded the Chronic Pain Project in 2023. Her research background shapes how CPP gathers and shares stories, while her lived experience ensures those stories stay grounded in what actually matters to people navigating chronic pain daily.
Janna is also a maker herself—she participates in CPP exhibitions with her own mixed media artwork and is constantly creating. This creative practice reinforces her commitment to welcoming all levels of artistic experience into the CPP community, not just formally trained artists. Whether someone has been painting for decades or is picking up a brush for the first time, their story and their creative expression have value.
Janna is based in Portland, Oregon.
Janna Kimel
Founder and Executive Director
A Community Without Borders
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