The Hidden Costs of Survival in Oregon's Unique Participatory Art Project

Every day, people across Oregon face challenges to access healthcare that go beyond what insurance covers or what appears on medical bills. These challenges include emotional stress, physical tolls, and financial burdens that often remain invisible to the public. A unique art project called Receipt of Existing: Oregon brings these hidden costs into the light by turning real healthcare experiences into tangible, thermal-printed receipts. This project transforms personal stories into public records, revealing the true price of survival in Oregon.

Receipt of Existing: Oregon thermal-printed healthcare receipt on wooden surface

How Receipt of Existing Works

Receipt of Existing: Oregon invites participants to share their healthcare experiences through a brief survey. The survey asks questions about access to medical care, the financial strain of treatments, emotional impacts, and physical hardships. Once completed, the participant’s answers print instantly on a small sticker receipt using a thermal printer.

These receipts serve as a record of survival costs—not just dollars spent, but the emotional and physical price paid to stay alive. Participants then choose where to place their receipt in public spaces, creating a growing map of healthcare burdens across the state. This participatory approach turns private struggles into a collective story, making the invisible visible.

The Power of a Receipt as a Medium

Receipts are familiar objects that people associate with transactions and costs. By using receipts, the project connects the abstract idea of healthcare struggles to something concrete and relatable. This format challenges the notion that healthcare is simply a service with a price tag. Instead, it reveals the complex and layered costs that come with accessing care.

The receipts highlight:

• Financial costs such as out-of-pocket expenses, copays, and lost wages.

• Emotional costs including anxiety, fear, and frustration.

• Physical costs like pain, fatigue, and the impact of chronic illness.

  
  

This approach encourages empathy and awareness by showing that healthcare is not just about treatment but about survival in a system that often feels overwhelming.

Real Stories from Oregon Residents

The project has collected hundreds of receipts from people across Oregon, each telling a unique story. For example:

• A single mother shared how she skipped meals to afford her child’s asthma medication, printing a receipt that listed “$50 monthly medication, constant worry, sleepless nights.”

• A retiree described the emotional toll of navigating insurance paperwork after a cancer diagnosis, with a receipt noting “Endless calls, confusion, fear of losing coverage.”

• A young adult with a chronic condition detailed the physical exhaustion from frequent hospital visits, printing “Pain every day, missed work, feeling isolated.”

  
  

These stories reveal the human side of healthcare costs that statistics alone cannot capture.

The Impact on Public Awareness

By placing these receipts in public spaces—on walls, poles, and community boards—the project creates a visible map of healthcare struggles. This map invites passersby to pause and reflect on the realities behind the numbers. It also fosters community dialogue about the need for better healthcare access and support.

The project has sparked conversations in neighborhoods, clinics, and local events. It encourages people to share their own experiences and recognize that they are not alone in facing these challenges.

How Participatory Art Can Drive Change

Receipt of Existing: Oregon demonstrates how art can be a powerful tool for social awareness and change. By involving participants directly, the project empowers individuals to tell their stories and contribute to a collective understanding of healthcare burdens.

This participatory model:

• Builds empathy by sharing personal experiences.

• Raises awareness about systemic issues in healthcare.

• Encourages community engagement and support.

• Provides policymakers with real, lived data to inform decisions.

  
  

Art projects like this show that storytelling can be a catalyst for improving healthcare systems and policies.

What You Can Do to Support the Project

If you live in Oregon or are interested in healthcare justice, you can get involved by:

• Participating in the survey and printing your own receipt.

• Sharing your receipt in public spaces to add your voice to the map.

• Attending local events or exhibitions featuring the project.

• Discussing healthcare challenges with friends, family, and community leaders.

• Supporting organizations that work to improve healthcare access and affordability.

  
  

Your story matters and contributes to a larger movement for change.