Purity of the Loser, Kalli Vath
A triptych of small-scale graphite drawings on watercolour paper; 2 images on the left are drawn on toned tan paper, the third on the right is on a tinted blue-purple paper. The drawings are in the center of each page and contain rounded, abstracted, wispy forms that are blurred at the edges.
Title: Purity of the Loser
Artist: Kalli Vath
Date: 2025
Medium/Materials: Graphite triptych on St. Armand paper, scented with musk and eucalyptus
Dimensions: 3 pieces, 14.8 cm x 14.8 cm each
Form/Genre: Drawing
Key Terms/Subject/Tags: Thyroid dysfunction; Derealization; Misogynoir
Artist Statement:
Purity of the Loser (2025) reflects the realities of living with an autoimmune disorder shaped by chronic derealization, brain fog, and insomnia. The work considers what it means to inhabit a body frequently marked by disembodiment and fragmentation.
The piece emerges from an ongoing navigation of Graves’ disease, a thyroid condition that disproportionately affects women yet remains under-researched, particularly in relation to its psychiatric complications. Thyroid dysfunction is especially prevalent among East African women, whose health has historically been marginalized within medical research. This neglect is compounded by systemic misogynoir and racial pain bias, wherein symptoms are often dismissed and undertreated. Within this tension, the Black body becomes a contested site of simultaneous hypervisibility and erasure.
Scent functions as both method and metaphor in the work; rather than a material part of the installation, it saturates the process of its making. Incense, earth and herbs are used as grounding mechanisms, tethering olfactory perception to memory and affect. The parallel between scent-memory and dissociative states are articulated through blurred edges, fleeting gestures and suspended states of being. The studio operates as a space of regulation, where sensory ritual becomes acts of care.
Purity of the Loser renders visible the intangible conditions that shape chronic illness. It positions art-making as a healing process of attunement rather than cure, while honoring vulnerability as a form of knowledge.
Cultural Context / Story Behind the Work:
Responds to Kalli Vath’s experience with Graves' disease and its psychiatric complications.
Rights for this Image:
This digital image is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. You are free to share it for non-commercial purposes, as long as you credit the artist.
Learn More:
Instagram: @kalli_amelya_art