The Ceiling Can’t Hold Us, Dylan Mortimer

Dylan Mortimer was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when he was three months old and has since received two double lung transplants. In this collage, Mortimer employs imagery that reflects his experiences with this chronic illness, using glitter to communicate the tenuous beauty and hope he finds in his ongoing healing. Abstract circular shapes represent healthy cells and form halos around his medical team, referencing his Christian faith and the importance of developing relationships between patients and providers. The tangled pink branches symbolize the regeneration of the bronchial trees that form his lungs, even as he lies vulnerable and exposed on an operating table wearing Nike Air Max sneakers. This motif, which reoccurs throughout Mortimer’s work, reveals his childhood desire to own Air Max shoes and to have the air they contain in their soles inside his lungs.