Ariana Page Russell isn’t the first artist to use her own flesh as a canvas, but she’s probably the first to do it without having to swallow a bottle of painkillers first. Russell has an autoimmune ...

The cause of dermographic urticaria is unknown, but appears to be related to a mast cell abnormality and is probably autoimmune in nature. Due to a recent illness, I developed dermographism.

Urticaria that results from the pressure of using a dull object to stroke the skin is called “dermatographism,” which literally means the ability to write on the skin. Also referred to as ...