Nowhere Land by Jiatong Lu

Nowhere Land sheds light on the Lyme community in the United States. For a long time this community remained invisible to the public eye and endured mistreatment, yet according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) around 476,000 people in the United States are diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease annually. Besides coping with their invisible symptoms, individuals with chronic Lyme disease often have to deal with the inability to work or attend school, isolation from family and friends, trauma from medical abuse and tremendous financial pressure, as the CDC does not acknowledge the existence of chronic Lyme. Countless chronic Lyme patients are dismissed and blamed, their pain invalidated and their suffering deemed to be in their heads. Through intimate narratives I aim to capture the silent suffering and emotional isolation endured by those living with this invisible and debilitating disease.