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Infinitas Gracias

Votives inspired by your stories

To accompany 'Infinitas Gracias', we asked professional illustrators to produce new votive images based on stories submitted by visitors to Wellcome Collection and to our website. Explore the list below to see the illustrations and read the stories that inspired them.

  • Dad's lilo

    "My sister and I were playing in the sea with an inflatable 'lilo' and we were joined by my father who could not swim at all....

  • Lost within one's self

    "I am thankful for having people around me who pull me away from the black hole of loneliness..."

  • Twins

    "My pregnancy with twins was fraught with difficulties. I went into labour at 28 weeks..."

  • Dolphin wedding

    "When my fiance and I decided to get married on the beach in California..."

  • Blue baby

    "I was a blue baby and nearly died at birth, 65 years ago..."

  • A lost thing

    "When I was about 5 years old I lost a ring, I think it was gold..."

  • A gift greater than any

    "In the spring of 2009, Jessie Bond was kind enough to give me shelter when I was thrown out of my lodgings..."

  • Thrice strangled umbilical cord

    "My elder sister was born with the umbilical cord wrapped three times around her neck..."

  • Venus in flames

    "I was diagnosed with cervical cancer in June 2006, at the age of 26..."

  • Emotionally unscathed

    "I dislocated my head from my neck as a child..."

  • Cat scratch fever

    "When my sister was only five years old, I nine years old, she developed high fevers for several days..."

  • The French stranger

    "My six-year-old sister slipped and started to be pulled towards the mouth of the underground river..."

  • Swimming in darkness

    "Some friends and I had driven north from Auckland one night. We missed the turn-off to our destination..."

  • Auroral

    "I want to give thanks, for I found my love in a tree..."

  • Glass half full

    "The latest scan shows no sign of cancer. We could not be more thankful to all those concerned..."

  • Breathless

    "I began to feel breathless, coughing up white frothy phleghm, having migraines and feeling faint..."

  • Forest Hill

    "Whilst waiting for the 8.21 train to London Bridge I was knocked to the ground... "

  • Locked out

    "When I was nine my family got locked out of our home..."

  • Epic bubble

    "For the beauty and poignancy of my lover who died in my arms while we made love..."

  • Voodoo

    "I gave a dried out sea horse that I inherited from my father to the Sirene Baleine and a flower and a sugared almond from my wedding to San Gregorio and lit the voodoo candle."

  • Apple tree

    "In the front garden of my old grandmother's house, there was (and still is) a large apple tree..."

  • The human war

    "I was working as a human rights observer and had been asked to remain in the village of Sieda, in the north of the West bank near Tulkarem..."

  • Love conquers all

    "I would like to thank the miracle of love that has joined my life and turned my life into a paradise..."

  • Darkness into light

    "I had 17 years of unnaturally bad luck after doing Ouija boards when I was in my teens..."

  • Never give up on life

    "The idea of having children did not come to Patti and me at the same time..."

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