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Bryony Attenburrow

@bryonyattenburrow

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▪️Cartoonist & Comic Book Artist
▪️Disability Rights Activist
©️Bryony Attenburrow 2026

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"Everything I have achieved has been in the teeth of the disease." Hilary Mantel 🦷🦷🦷🦷🦷

How could I not have given Mouldy-Wings visible fangs? Well it might have been because the disease is not easily visible and also because it fluxuatates.

I think Mantel's quote and the way spoke and wrote about her life with endometriosis resonated. She began giving me permission to start voicing the way my body was changing. The way it felt and continues to feel. That it beagn to become a living thing I was alone coping with and becoming a creature all of its own.
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#endometriosis #toothandclaw #comics #art #disability #surrealism by @bryonyattenburrow

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a year ago

What do you carry in your bag?
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#comicbookart #gothichorror #endometriosis #chronicillness #disability #illustration #artwork by @bryonyattenburrow

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a year ago

Making plans when you have a cat-dragon in your life is always a bit tricky...🔥🔥🔥

A Mouldy-Wings Comic by Bryony Attenburrow

Link to full comic strip in bio

#autobiocomics #illustration #fantasyartwork #chronicillness #endometriosis #art by @bryonyattenburrow

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5

a year ago

And now it's time to meet Val! Val is the human that was lucky enough to have been found by the cat-dragon known as 'Mouldy-Wings'.

The story behind these two characters, how they met and where they are going is gradually taking form and developing into a more complex narrative...

(Hoping to share some draft comic strips of this soon!)

And I hope that you will come all along for the adventure!

#disability #endometriosis #illustration #gothichorror #comicbookart #characterconceptart by @bryonyattenburrow

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4

2 years ago

And then there was 'Mouldy-Wings' a cat-dragon that came to life when I was asked many times what it felt like to live with endometriosis.

My personal experience of endo is like living with a grumpy cat with sharp teeth and claws who is unpredictable and follows it's own rules. If you think it wants to be treated one way, it will decide it doesn't, if you have an important zoom call, it will decide that this is the moment it wants to cause havoc, the list goes on...

But this cat is also part dragon and has the ability to breathe fire and cause ruination on a far greater scale than a grumpy cat ever could. This is the pain I try to describe and that living with endo for me is not easily tameable and required great stength abd courage to wrangle with everyday.

I never thought I would find myself drawing a fantasy creature with a dash of gothic horror but I'm enjoying following wherever this creature is heading next

#comicbookart #endometriosis #disability #illustration #fantast #gothichorror by @bryonyattenburrow

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2 years ago

"Menstruation Monster" was a comic strip I made based on how I coped with the my period before I even heard the word endometriosis. My sketchbook has always been full of diary drawings I made over many years to help make sense of the powerful impact of my periods.

Looking back through the drawings of my periods I'm struck by the impulse I had to make what I felt visible. I still do these drawings as a coping mechanism. For me they capture something I could so easily question was 'real' when the worst had passed. This record of drawings became such an important asset when I was finally diagnosed with severe stage IV endometriosis after being told for almost 20 years nothing was wrong with my periods.

And yes, I used up a lot of red colour pencils and red felt tips.

#disability #painfulperiods #endometriosis #comicbookart #illustration #autobiocomics by @bryonyattenburrow

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2 years ago

Loving the multitude of illustrators' responses to the Starter Pack AI trend. As a cartoonist I've been wanting to make more artwork in response to the climate crisis and joining in with challenging whether the AI Starter Pack trend is worth the energy felt like a natural subject to pick!

#starterpacknoai #climatejustice #cartoonist by @bryonyattenburrow

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2 years ago

Fatigue is a symptom I have been experiencing for as long as my pain but I did not realise it was an actual symptom. I used to just try to caffeinate myself out of feeling like I had lead in my bones and cotton wool in my head. I also used to berate myself about my lack of energy thinking I was just lazy or a downer.

I still find fatigue the most frustrating of my symptoms. The most 'invisible' and the most difficult to explain.

Often after a bad pain flare-up I will be utterly fatigued with for several days. And yet when the pain has lessened all I long to do is all the things I could not during the flare-up.

I am not a naturally patient person and I've found that being patient with these days of fatigue is the better way to cope with them...but it's still definitely a work in progress!

#fatigue #patience #exhaustion #persistentpain #painfulperiods #endometriosis #endometriosisawareness #endometriosisawarenessmonth #graphicmedicine #comicbookart #comicbooks #illustration #art #personalstories by @bryonyattenburrow

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4 years ago

When so many treatments rely on seperating out my mind from my body, and can ignore how illness is so deeply personal, I have found that practising yoga has become an essential part of my daily life.

In my yoga practice I recognise the unique and changing combination of the strenths and weaknesses within me. I recognise that I can find more balance within myself and that managing a chronic illness does not have to overwhelm my experience of being alive.

Yoga has helped me accept what is here now. And I have also come to believe that two things can be true at the same time. I can sometimes be happy and still chronically ill.

#chronicillness #persistentpain #endometriosis #endometriosisawarenessmonth #endometriosisawareness #painfulperiods #graphicmedicine #comicbookart #comicbooks #illustration #yoga #balance by @bryonyattenburrow

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4 years ago

Living with endometriosis has not made me feel particularly s*xy.

And if I'm honest, when most physical activites are a struggle, s*x can seem like yet another activity that will put a strain on my body.

From experiencing repeat surgery, repeat medical examinations and numerous hormonal treatments, in an attempt to manage my endometriosis, I can lose the sense of my body as something joyful.

Recently I have started to play music that reminds me of past night's out, dancing and other times having fun.

When listening to my favourite tracks I can shift towards a sense that my body is far more than the chronic illness I live with.

#chronicillness #illustration #graphicmedicine #endometriosis #endometriosisawareness #endometriosisawarenessmonth #painfulperiods #comicbooks #comicstrip #comicart #personalstories #art #persistentpain #drawing by @bryonyattenburrow

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4 years ago

There is no single simple thing I can write about this euphamistic expression and how it effects what it is like to live with endometriosis.

But I feel the weight of an additional complexity to living with endometriosis and in accessing adequate health care.

And in talking with others who have endometriosis I know I am not alone in feeling this particular burden.

#endometriosis #endometriosisawareness #endometriosisawarenessmonth #chronicillness #persistentpain #painfulperiods #graphicmedicine #comicbooks #illustration #art #personalstories #ourbodiesourchoice by @bryonyattenburrow

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4 years ago

It often feels like some invisible dice are thrown in the night while I sleep and this determines which symptoms I experience the next day. And this random selection happens each and every night.

I find that I can become caught up trying to find the perfect routine to help control my symptoms and in searching for a way to tidy my chronic illness into a more manageable corner of my life.

And yet part of my experience of endometriosis is it's constant trickery. And living with it is about slowly learning to accept that aspect of it!

#varieryisthespiceoflife #illustration #pattern #dailylife #chronicillness #chronicpain #persistentpain #periodpain #graphicmedicine #comics #comicbooks #endometriosisawarenessmonth #endometriosisawareness #endometriosis by @bryonyattenburrow

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4 years ago