Okehampton-based body artist Niki Etheridge is holding a special bodypainting challenge this month to mark ten years of fundraising for Endometriosis UK.

As is her tradition, Niki will complete her bodypainting challenge in just three hours to raise money for Endometriosis UK, the UK’s leading charity for people with endometriosis, a condition in which tissue similar to that lining the womb grows outside the uterus.

This year’s theme is “Hiding in One Body”, and the art will focus on camouflaging the model’s face to represent the hidden nature of endometriosis and the challenges sufferers face. Niki hopes that it will highlight the prevalence of the condition, which affects one in ten women, and yet is little known about among the public and overlooked by healthcare professionals.

She said: “It’s not about being disrespectful to the NHS. It’s highlighting that it’s still an ongoing issue and the NHS is not being supported by the Government to help tackle it.”

Niki has suffered badly from endometriosis herself. Over the years, she had undergone multiple surgeries to remove the excess tissue. In 2024, she was diagnosed with adenomyosis, which occurs when the lining of the womb grows into the muscle in the wall of the uterus. However, her womb and ovaries began to stick together, which forced her to choose between hormone replacement therapy and a hysterectomy to relieve the symptoms. Niki chose to have a hysterectomy and, in July last year, underwent the procedure, which has given her much-needed relief.

Endometriosis affects over 1.5 million people in the UK. It can cause a range of symptoms, including inflammation, pain, scar tissue, fertility problems, fatigue and heavy periods.

Endometriosis UK aims to expand support and information available to sufferers, campaign to improve diagnosis time and access to care, invest in research and provide better education to children and healthcare professionals about the condition.

March is endometriosis awareness month.

For more information about endometriosis, visit endometriosis-uk.org.