Virtual Panel: Delaney Liskey & May Ling Kopecky

Image Description: Split by a diagonal line, May Ling Kopecky’s full figure portrait of a female body, depicted through overlaying realistic, anatomical, and abstracted body parts, is on the left side. On the right, Delaney Liskey stands on a stage, giving her TEDx Talk, titled “Researching your own disease.”

Image Caption: 

May Ling Kopecky

Self Portrait - Multiple Sclerosis and My Body, 2022

Colored pencil, ink, and graphite on Dura-Lar and graph paper

71” x 30”

Photo by Caroline Jimenez Reyes

February 24, 2024 at 11:00 AM | Delaney Liskey in conversation with May Ling Kopecky about Pediatric-Onset Multiple Sclerosis, patient experience and MS advocacy. Register for free: Click Here

Moderated by Curator Zoe Cinel

Join us for a conversation with Regenerative Sciences Ph.D. Student at Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Delaney Liskey, and artist May Ling Kopecky, who is also the Learning Center Coordinator at Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Both Kopecky and Liskey were diagnosed with pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (MS) at a young age. Through their distinctive practices, they each share the belief that patients have the most knowledge about their diseases, and should therefore be recognized as such.

This talk is a part of a series of conversations between artists, scientists, and healthcare providers for the group exhibition Chronicles of the Chronic (on view August 26, 2023 through April 3, 2024 in Main Gallery West)

About the panelists

At 11 years old, Delaney Liskey was diagnosed with pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (MS) — a rare form of a commonly diagnosed disease. Today, as a graduate student in the inaugural class of the Regenerative Sciences PhD Track at the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Lisdkey advocates for MS patients. Learn more about Liskey's research at Researching your own disease | Delaney Liskey | TEDxJacksonville: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGLFTDziNGE

May Ling Kopecky is an artist based in Plymouth, Minnesota. She specializes in highly detailed, hyper-realistic drawings and paintings. "My work visualizes how I navigate the world with MS, focusing on my relationship with healthcare, the physical evidence of my symptoms in MRI scans, and how I and others perceive the world when struggling with MS symptoms. Using art as a means of communication, I spread MS awareness and advocate for people with invisible illnesses." Kopecky's work is featured in the exhibition Chronicles of the Chronic.

About the exhibition

Chronicles of the Chronic is a group exhibition that celebrates the creativity and resilience of the chronically ill community by featuring regional, national and international artists whose artistic practice reflects holistically upon the experience of living with a chronic health condition. Curator: Zoe Cinel. 

Learn more about the exhibition: Click Here

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.