Power, Perception and Pain. Communicating the lived experience of Endometriosis through Performance / Hannah Todosijczuk (2025)

Endometriosis is a chronic condition where tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows outside of the uterus, surfacing the ovaries, fallopian tubes and bowls. This causes inflammation, scar tissue, cysts, heavy periods, fertility issues and how can I forget… unbearable pain. When I first began my diagnosis journey with endometriosis at the age of 16, I had no knowledge of the condition, and this is very common for young girls. It took 3 years to get a diagnosis, it was only until the growing cyst had burst, I rushed in for a laparoscopy surgery that I could finally get my diagnosis. Six years have passed, yet I’ve seen no real progress in understanding or managing my condition. It remains largely absent from public conversation, and the pain continues to be dismissed—masked by generic medications or overshadowed by discussions about contraceptive pills. My frustration with the lack of urgency and recognition only grows stronger. This has driven me to explore how I can process my experience and express it through performance Rotting Home is named after the home within me, it represents my womb, my uterus which is destined to decay under the relentless spread of endometrial tissue for the rest of my life. The project began as an experiment, a way for me to discover theatre making as an individual and learn what drives me when creating. After its first performance in November 2024, I realised the potential it had to become further developed into a space for education, self-discovery and conversation on a topic that is so often silenced. At first, I had the desire to become a living image of my suffering, for the internal to become external. The movement that surfaced from improvisation tasks within this theme, set the basis for the underlying movement quality. As research and interest developed, I discovered how personal this journey was becoming and wanted to understand what it means to navigate life as a woman living with this condition. Throughout the piece there is a need for me to advocate for women using both voice and movement, this sense of communication then developed into collaborative artworks, portrait pictures and written poems. With the main aim being communication, I wanted to find a way to document examples of this, so I set up a 1-hour durational exploration with a back-and-forth conversation between movement and painting with my father. Throughout Rotting Home there is a clear journey of different states being experienced and I wanted to discover what holds power in each of these states and how that can be translated to movement. This includes; Power of the Male gaze. Power of the medical field. Power of a woman’s sensuality. Power of pain. Power of the Invisible community