Learning To Fall

Kevin lives with Multiple Myeloma (blood cancer) and Hannah lives with Ulcerative Colitis, between them have received significant medical care, which for Kevin has been literally life-saving.

The title of this project is a reference to the physical and philosophical experience of living with a chronic illness. What happens when your body violently attacks itself? How do you cope when you experience a striking loss of agency? What role does the actual sick person have in the care of their illness?

Together Kevin and Hannah are asking questions around agency and self healing while seeking to avoid toxic positivity, or false hopes. They believe in the power of the mind-body connection. They use somatic movement, visual art, film, sculpture and sonic art to explore a relationship with their illnesses that includes the mysterious, spiritual and embodied experience of health in flux.

Kevin and Hannah began their collaboration through Quarantine’s intergenerational residency programme. You can watch an interview about their experience on the residency here. Learning To Fall has received funding from Arts Council England and is supported by Leeds Art Gallery and Yorkshire Dance. They will be exhibiting work at Leeds Art Gallery in November 2026.