NPAC In-Depth: Quána Madison - Member of our Community Leadership Council
Director Kate Nicholson sat down with Quána Madison to talk about her work with art, healing and equity.
Quána, you are an artist and an activist for the health and well-being of a variety of marginalized communities. Can you tell us a bit more, including how healing is a key component of your art and advocacy work?
Creating art and becoming a health & well-being advocate has supported my healing process. I believe the arts and meaningful arts engagements can nourish emotional well-being, promote connectedness, and help communicate important stories, perspectives, and new information. I use my lived experiences, artwork, and collaborations with community organizations such as the National Pain Advocacy Center, the National Institutes of Health, the National Minority Health Association, Colorado Artists in Recovery, and Habitat for Humanity to support health equity and community-based well-being efforts.
NPAC has featured your #RealPainStory on its website, which you can read here. This includes your experience of having the police called when you showed up in the Emergency Room reporting pain. Can you tell us more about your experiences and how the intersection of a person’s race, pain, and socioeconomic circumstances can shape their access to care?
Being a Black, Queer, and Disabled woman with fluctuating resources impacts the perceptions, access to care, and the ongoing management of my pain. I was traumatized by the experience of having the police called on me for showing up at the ER in pain. The mistreatment made me afraid to tell medical providers about my pain. Sometimes I have shared that I'm in pain with a provider and not being referred to any of the available options that can support my pain. I have had some medical staff invalidate my lived experiences of pain by dismissing, downplaying, or ignoring it. Conscious and unconscious biases, social stigmas, the foundational perspectives that we are shaped by and our lived experiences impact our beliefs and behaviors. Having multiple intersections of historically marginalized identities deeply affects my experiences with medical spaces.
NIH is starting to prioritize lived experience expertise and partnership in research. You recently represented NPAC at an important NIH meeting on health equity. Can you tell us a bit more about how that experience went for you?
It was an incredible experience. I have lived with chronic pain for decades. It felt validating and encouraging to experience the NIH Heal Initiative valuing community members as Lived Experience Experts. It gave me hope to collaborate with scientists, researchers, health equity advocates, and other Lived Experience Experts on multi-level interventions that can support pain management equity. It was encouraging to recognize, discuss, and incorporate the social determinants of health that contribute to pain disparities. I hope this approach continues to grow.
Your art is intimately connected to your own healing, your professional work, and even your love story. I remember you telling us about how your boyfriend took you to an art supply store when your pain was being poorly managed.
He is now your husband, right?
Yes, Zachariah White is now my husband. Art was at the center of our love story and healing. Our first few dates included going to the First Friday events in the Arts District on Santa Fe. Zach brought me to Menninger’s Art Supply store in Denver after a failed experience trying to get help with managing my pain. He encouraged me to embrace my inner artist. The more I embraced expressive art forms, the more inspired I became to want to share it with others—especially folks who may not have experience using the arts as a vehicle to support health and well-being. I started to read research about the impact of the arts on well-being. My husband Zach and I were fortunate to buy an affordable home through Habitat for Humanity-Metro Denver's homebuyer program. Stable and affordable housing has been another important factor that supports the management of my health and well-being. Thus, I partner with Habitat for Humanity to promote their mission of providing affordable housing options.
Can you update us on your recent work? What exciting things have happened with your art? (I am thinking about the recent event you hosted at the Denver Art Museum and your recent acquisitions).
My art journey has been fulfilling. Many of my works are represented by a Boston-based firm called Artlifting, which supports artists with disabilities. Recently, I was a featured artist for the Untitled Series at the Denver Art Museum. I will be a featured fashion designer at Denver Fashion Week's Inclusive show on May 12th. I will show a collection of one-of-a-kind wearable art fashions that promote sustainability. I have also had works acquired by Bank of America, Google, Amazon, PwC and Statestreet Bank, along with private collectors.
How do your background in education and love of art inform your work at the Clyfford Still Museum?
My passion for abstract expressionist art and healing journey led me to discover the Clyfford Still Museum. The artist Clyfford Still is one of my favorite abstract expressionist painters. But, I didn't know there was a single artist museum about him in Denver until a friend of mine took me there to support my creative coping with chronic pain and illnesses. The architecture is stunning, the atmosphere is peaceful, and the large artwork draws you in. I have been in the field of education for over 15 years. My interest in trauma-informed, healing-centered, and inclusive education aligns perfectly with my work as a Senior Educator and Community Engagement Specialist in the Learning and Engagement department at the Clyfford Still Museum.
Some other things in your life have been challenging like getting a cancer diagnosis. How are you doing?
Recently I found out that I have a tumor in my breast. I am also experiencing painful complications with my breast reconstruction that I had after prophylactic double mastectomies. The tumor is located in a difficult spot. But I'm grateful that I am working with a great oncology and plastic surgery team. I will undergo surgery to remove and biopsy the tumor and have DIEP flap breast reconstruction surgeries. It's been an emotional rollercoaster. But I have faith.
Learn more about Quána:
Read and view more #RealPainStories, including the video interview of Charis Hill https://nationalpain.org/community/realpainstories-video-charis-hill