On Valentine’s Day 2017, Gina Hessburg woke up on a tiny Caribbean island off Nicaragua with mysterious white lines cutting across the vision in her right eye. It was the beginning of an unexplained optic neuritis attack that would permanently alter her sight, and her life.

Between 2017 and 2023, Gina experienced five more attacks. Despite countless specialists, four spinal taps, extensive testing, and even a visit to a shaman in Peru, she remains undiagnosed. According to Mayo Clinic, she is one of approximately 30 documented patients worldwide with that present like she does. She knows she's one in a million, but not in the way she hoped.

In 2021, Gina collaborated with advertising agency Little & Company to publish Blowing Up, a humorous look at being in health crisis through isolation with her inflatable companion, Rafael. Five dollars from each book supported optic neuritis research and patient organizations. The project marked a turning point: after years of bringing other people's creative visions to life, she began telling her own stories.

Art became Gina's way of making the invisible visible. In 2022, she shared her journey at SITE Santa Fe through a PechaKucha presentation. In 2024, she independently produced and funded her first exhibition, Welcome to the Party, revealing the emotional and physical realities of living with an invisible disability and navigating a medical system without a diagnosis. The compassionate audience response reinforced the power of art to create understanding.

In October 2026, Gina completed her first Minnesota State Arts Board grant-funded project, Interoception, an interactive multimedia exhibition exploring the nervous system, healing, and the connection between mind and body. The exhibition included a physician panel examining nervous system regulation and long-term health.

Through these experiences, Gina recognized that art had always been more than a creative outlet. It was how she processed uncertainty, navigated crises, and found moments of peace.

Today, she calls herself a Patient Advocate Artist, using creativity, storytelling, and a healthy dose of humor to give visibility to experiences too often unseen, and to help others find their own ways to express, process, and heal.

To connect with Gina, support her work, or commission artwork, email her.

To support her today purchase a $30 commemorative print from her show Interoception. The limited 8 1/2 x 11 prints were designed by Melanie Walby of Good Graces. Not only will you have a piece of the show you can help Gina continue to make her art. Click here for purchase.

Purchase Prints Here!