On May 10 is World Lupus Day. It is a day to help bring awareness to a disease that has become a catchphrase.

In order to bring awareness to this disease, I have created a virtual art project which anybody can participate in from anywhere across the globe. More information on that can be found at the link. Please pass this information on to as many people as possible and hopefully it will turn... [read more]

On May 10 is World Lupus Day. It is a day to help bring awareness to a disease that has become a catchphrase.

In order to bring awareness to this disease, I have created a virtual art project which anybody can participate in from anywhere across the globe. More information on that can be found at the link. Please pass this information on to as many people as possible and hopefully it will turn into something... marvelous.

Aside from participating in this project, take a few moments educating yourself on Lupus.

Please invite everyone that you know and hopefully before long this mysterious disease will not remain a mystery for long.

Here is a little bit more information on this project:

Welcome to The Lupus Art Gallery: A Virtual Gallery To Bring Awareness To Lupus.

Hi, my name is Julia "Jules" Sherred and I have Lupus. Some of you may already be familiar with my story and others may not.

My story is long and it has been a difficult one. This may be one of the only things I may be able to say that will link my story to all others who live with this disease. Lupus has a thousand faces and often times this makes it difficult to adequately explain what exactly Lupus is. Many people have no idea what Lupus is or how it works. Sure they hear the phrase thrown around as some sort of catchphrase or meme but many remain unaware of what Lupus is outside of hearing in on some television program. Even the medical profession is still trying to find some much needed answers in an effort to unravel the mystery of this disease. And this is one of the reasons I decided to create this site.

The Lupus Awareness Virtual Art Gallery was created in 2010 after a night where I sat and thought of possible ways to do something grand in honour of World Lupus Day. I wanted to do something big-ish. Something, regardless of where someone lived, they could participate. The only concrete idea I had was that I wanted it to have a heavy butterfly theme. Of course, other motifs and themes are more than welcome. I wanted to gather art, music, crafting, videos, stories, poems, anything anybody could think of to bring even a little bit more awareness to this disease outside of some catchphrase. Something artsy and multimedia. Something in which anyone can collaborate and contribute to despite their talents. I blogged about it and for some reason I didn't think it would go far. In less than 24 hours, I had some amazing responses and was given many ideas that would enable me to put this "thing" into motion.

Later in the year, I was asked if I would also being doing for Lupus Awareness Month in October. I had thought about it prior but wasn't sure if people would be willing to participate. So yet again, I put out feelers and the response was a resounding "YES!". As a result the name changed from the World Lupus Day Virtual Art Gallery to Lupus Awareness Virtual Art Galley.

Below, you will find links to many ways in which you can help. You can choose to jump on board an existing project or if there is not a project already listed that you feel would be a good one, there is also a link to suggest new projects. I ask that all projects be completed by May 8th for World Lupus Day and October 28 for Lupus Awareness Month. Any associated media (pictures, videos, stories, poems, etc.) be sent to me by Midnight PDT on the above dates. Projects for World Lupus Day will be unveiled on May 10th of that year. Projects for Lupus Awareness Month will be unveiled through October with the final updates on October 31 of that year.