All Things ME: Blue Hearts, Blue Ribbons and Red Leaves
A unique modern mosaic for ME Awareness Day 2026 by Shirley Kay Mosaics
Huge thanks to Shirley Kay, a much-valued member of the Red Leaf Creative Collaborative and family member of someone with ME, for sharing this fabulous piece of art and explaining her inspiration for this.
This year, I chose to recycle an old broken violin I found in a junk shop as a base for my 2026 ME Awareness design. There’s something magical about breathing new life into something that would have been discarded, creating beauty from that which is perceived to have little value.
This violin base is also a link to Blue Sunday: The Concert for ME, an annual fundraiser organised by the amazing Isaac Greer. The 2026 concert is now available online. Please watch, share and donate if you can to the vital research at the University of Edinburgh led by Professor Chris Ponting.
My mosaic was created using blue mirror, blue iridescent and vitreous glass, blue pearlised tile, blue millifiore and blue hand shaped wire, surrounded by black glass for contrast.
The design incorporates symbolism around the theme of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Blue hearts and blue ribbons are internationally recognised symbols of ME awareness. Central to the design is a detailed blue heart, shimmering and sparking in all its beauty.
Above this, encased in blue resin, is a blue ribbon created in wire, surrounded by ceramic blue hearts to create a stylised forget-me-not flower. The forget-me-not is often associated with ME as a symbol of personal resilience, hope and strength during challenging times.
Top left of the violin, I created the blue-ribbon shape in glass tile, shining and shimmering in its iridescent blues. Similarly, top right is a stylised blue butterfly in iridescent glass and wire, in tribute to and with love to those we have sadly lost through this devastating disease.
Detailed tiny blue enamelled butterflies sit on the neck of the violin, representing our children and young people with ME, my hope being that one day they will recover enough to ‘fly-off’ to healthier and happier lives.
The ceramic red leaves represent hope through the work of The Red Leaf Creative Collaborative, of which I am a proud member, creating hope for a better future ‘one red leaf at a time’. The ceramic red leaves are strong and vibrant, representing the combined strength of our creative community. Despite the fragility of our personal circumstances, we are strong because of our combined support and sense of community. Small fragments of red mirror, shimmer around the main blue heart, supporting, nurturing and providing further hope.
This piece has a background of black glass and is grouted in black representing the darkness within the lives of people with ME. Black grout also allows the individual pieces of glass and mirror to shine, reminding us that every individual is beautiful, everyone deserves to be nurtured and shine, to recognise their own beauty, their unique abilities and strengths despite their circumstances.
Overall, I hope my mosaic reflects elements of hope, community and love, but as with all artwork, I invite you to interpret it in your own way.