When a stroke at age 25 left designer Eilish Briscoe unable to write or communicate normally, she faced what seemed like the end of her creative career. Instead, she discovered something extraordinary: when traditional language fails, entirely new forms of artistic expression can emerge from the fragments. Her journey from devastating neurological injury to groundbreaking typographic artist is reshaping how we understand visual communication and human resilience.

Briscoe's life changed overnight during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Having recently moved from northwest England to London to launch her design career, she initially dismissed what felt like a severe migraine. The room began spinning uncontrollably, she experienced difficulty breathing, and tingling sensations crept up her face and arm, followed by violent nausea. These symptoms didn't match the widely recognized FAST acronym (Face, Arm, Speech, Time) typically associated with strokes, so medical professionals failed to immediately recognize what was happening.

It wasn't until approximately 25 hours after her first symptoms appeared that doctors confirmed Briscoe had suffered a stroke. On her second day in the hospital, she attempted to write down her feelings but discovered only incoherent squiggles emerged on paper. She was experiencing dysgraphia, a neurological disorder that makes writing nearly impossible – a particularly devastating condition for someone whose professional life centered on visual communication. The weeks that followed became the darkest period of her life, as her symptoms deteriorated to the point where she became entirely incapacitated, requiring round-the-clock care and losing her ability to speak, move, or perform basic tasks independently.

During this profound period of vulnerability, Briscoe came to a life-altering realization: expression is a luxury that most people take for granted, and it was one she had suddenly lost. The creative tools that had once been automatic – writing, speaking, designing – were suddenly beyond her reach. Her recovery began gradually with dedicated support from rehabilitation therapists, family members, and her own determined practice sessions. One particular exercise became especially significant: working alongside her mother, Briscoe would attempt to copy letters repeatedly, creating practice sheets that would later become the foundation for her revolutionary artistic work.

What started as basic rehabilitation exercises transformed into a powerful meditation on the fragility and preciousness of human expression. This summer, the innovative East London gallery Art Practice – a collaborative space founded by renowned artists including Daniel Eatock, Dan Tobin Smith, and Maria Lax – is presenting Briscoe's latest investigation into this liminal territory. The exhibition "I Don't Have The Words," running from August 7-25, showcases a compelling new body of work that transforms neurological disruption into profound artistic inquiry.

The centerpiece of Briscoe's artistic evolution is her groundbreaking 2024 typeface called "Maybe," extracted directly from her post-stroke handwriting. The typeface takes its name from a word that became central to her recovery experience – when her speech was severely impaired and her autonomy was lost, "maybe" became a linguistic refuge, representing both the hopelessness of uncertainty and the flickering possibility of hope. Notably, the typeface contains no capital letters or punctuation marks because at that stage of her recovery, these elements were beyond her neurological capabilities.

Each letterform in the "Maybe" typeface was extracted from Briscoe's handwriting practice sessions within just a few days of each other, creating a precise snapshot of a specific moment in her journey back to communication. Where many might see limitation and loss, Briscoe discovered liberation and new possibilities, exploring what happens when letterforms are divorced from their traditional function as carriers of meaning. The result is work that operates in the fascinating space between graphic design, sculpture, and installation art.

Briscoe has already transformed her typeface into powerful immersive installations, covering entire exhibition walls with phrases taken directly from her post-stroke notes and memories. Her exhibition "Expression is a Luxury" at K-House in Manchester this past May demonstrated how personal trauma can become a vehicle for broader cultural conversations about communication, accessibility, and human connection. Her interdisciplinary approach now spans graphic design, printmaking, sculpture, and installation work, proving how personal narrative can become a powerful tool for social impact.

Part of Briscoe's mission involves addressing the shame and stigma that often accompany stroke recovery, particularly among young people. She notes that many young stroke survivors simply pretend their experience never happened, especially when re-entering the workplace where admitting to a brain injury can feel deeply stigmatizing. Through her art, she's creating space for these hidden experiences and challenging assumptions about disability, creativity, and human potential.

The current exhibition at Art Practice represents essential viewing for anyone working at the intersection of design and social impact. It serves as a powerful reminder that some of our most transformative creative tools emerge not from what we can control, but from what we cannot. Fifteen percent of the exhibition's profits will be donated to the Stroke Association and Different Strokes, organizations supporting stroke survivors. The show is open to the public until August 25, with hours from 10am-5pm Tuesday through Saturday, plus Bank Holiday Monday, and special Saturday hours of 1pm-5pm on August 16th.