      |
CURE COMMUNITY
Healing through art
BY KATHY LATOUR | SEPTEMBER 14, 2009
Art can do amazing things to help us understand ourselves and the world around us, including healing from cancer.
I met with an old friend and fellow breast cancer survivor and a group of her artist friends last week to talk about using art to help women heal from cancer. Diane Hosey, who I had interviewed in the early '90s for my book The Breast Cancer Companion, was diagnosed in 1987 at 31 with stage 3 inflammatory breast cancer, a year after I was diagnosed.
In 2007 she decided to celebrate being alive by diving again into the abyss of breast cancer to more fully understand what had happened to her. As a very artsy woman and business consultant, Diane asked an artist friend named Karen Blessen (who was the first graphic artist to win a Pulitzer Prize, by the way) to interpret her experience through art. Blessen, a journalist and graphic artist, was the perfect person for the job, having founded the nonprofit Today Marks the Beginning, whose mission is to use art to impact public awareness of social issues.
The resulting story and art created by Blessen appeared in the Dallas Morning News and was so powerful for Diane that she wants to explore how the same process might be used for other women who have survived cancer to gain new understanding of their experience as they heal. It was a dynamic discussion, with the six women gathered around the table bringing insight and excitement of their own remarkable lives to how such a project would work. How do you find the right match of survivor and artist? What would the resulting presentation look like? Is it a gallery show or performance art or both?
It's an exciting idea and I want to know what you think. Would you work with an artist to interpret your cancer to better understand what has happened to you? Would you revel in the possibility of finding new territory? What kind of presentation would you like to see whether you took part or not?
I am intrigued by the possibilities because in 1996 I created a piece of art that helped me understand the power of artistically interpreting my own experience. I had compared my feelings after breast cancer to being shattered and then having to put myself back together again--using that analogy when I spoke about one of the positives of cancer. Positive? Yes, because when you put yourself back together you can add things that weren't there before. I actually put a piece of pottery, by a well-known potter named Mary Whitkop, back together that broke the year after receiving it from a gallery in Taos, New Mexico. I reassembled the pot adding things as I went: the pink rhinestone ribbon, the crystals of an old necklace that belonged to my mother, beads chosen by my daughter to represent her, a symbol of Southern Methodist University where I was welcomed to teach while going through chemotherapy.
As I finished assembling the pot, I saw that one piece was still missing, probably because it was clearly the point where the pot had hit the floor and the pieces were too small to save.
How ironic that my pot would be missing a piece. I filled the hole with beads that I had collected over the years, making it the most beautiful part of the pot. Like me, the pot had lost part of its original symmetry, which had been replaced with something bright and beautiful.
RELATED POSTS- Two new drugs approved, one pulled from the pipeline
- Cancer screening rates low
- A call for more pancreatic cancer research
- An introduction to cancer: From a father and his daughter
- The cushion of silence
COMMENTS (12) |
PRINT |
SUBSCRIBE
SEARCH BLOGS
BROWSE BY AUTHOR
BROWSE BY CATEGORY
AUTHOR BIOS
RECENT POSTS
MOST POPULAR
COMMENTS
Love this post and yes I would be completely open to working with an artist to interpret my cancer. Daily I try to interpret, understand and explain my experience. Sometimes words alone are just not sufficient. Love this!
- Posted by Meaghan 9/14/09 4:04 PM
I was diagnosed with stage 4 renal cell carcinoma in Aug. of 2008 I was then told there was not anything could be done to save my life.They could make me comfortable as possible.They were going to try a new drug to try and slow down the cancer.(sutent) This was my new friend Ive taken this drug for allmost a year now.I was preparing myself to to pass on well I had a Pet Scan Friday Sept11 2009 No tumors unbeliveable Last year I had a5.3 by 4.4 cm mass on my left kidney and a 6.5 mass in the left lingula and right adrenal gland mass of 3.2 by 1.7 left adrenal mass was 2.8 by 1.9 No wait thats not all. Today Im cancer free Maybe it wont last forever but ill take what I can get. My problem now is the goverment wanting to stop fun ding for these type of drugs becouse there not cures and very expensive Makes no sience stop some of the bullshit programs like cash for clunkers and put mon ey where its needed Cancer resurch Becouse without Pfizer and Sutent I would allready be dead And I have grandchildren I would like to see grow up MICHAEL NEAL
- Posted by Michael Neal 9/16/09 10:42 AM
I think this is a wonderful idea for some people. Personally, I would really like to be part of a group of other survivor artists / craftspeople for the purpose of providing mutual support and encouragement as we each find our own medium and method(s) for interpreting our experiences of cancer - diagnosis, treatment, recovery, etc. I am having trouble doing this on my own.
- Posted by Carol 9/17/09 5:27 PM
Thanks for sharing! As a cancer survivor, someone who has been a client of an art therapist and now studying art therapist, I was really happy to read this post!
- Posted by Rachel (Baumgartner) Lozano 9/17/09 7:57 PM
I have been participating in an Art/Spirit/Play workshop for non-artists to work with art materials to help us understand some of what is going on inside. I was diagnosed with a second breast cancer about a year ago & had a mastectomy and the art work has really helped me process things. I love it and find it incredibly helpful.
- Posted by Frances Cantella 9/17/09 11:12 PM
As an art therapists, I recommend that women find a way to express themselves. There are art therapists all over the world to help if needed, and I'm sure that many artists could be helpful in finding a good artistic way of expressing the feelings and experiences of being a breast cancer survivor. Thanks for including this!
- Posted by Marian Lancaster 9/18/09 9:17 PM
Would love to be part of this project! I was diagnosed about a year ago with a rare uterine cancer. Life is more efficient, positive and full in many ways since and it would be interesting to explore these feelings artistically. Thanks.
- Posted by Kathleen Puri 9/19/09 7:32 AM
How does one sign up for this? I have a rare cancer called Carcinoid in the abdominal area, this type of cancer is permanet, so far there is no permanet cure, only drugs and surgery to keep it bay for as long as possible. I found going back to church and having a personal relationship with Jesus and reading the word daily, attending as much church as possible to help keep my sanity plus people praying for me has helped tremendously, without there support who knows where I'd be today. Nancy Morris
- Posted by Nancy Morris 9/19/09 3:07 PM
I'm a survivor, along with my older sister Diane. She was the one mentioned in this article. I have been wanting to persue a connection with my photography and women with cancer. This would be the perfect outlet.
- Posted by Deeda 9/19/09 6:55 PM
I am a BC survivor for almost 4 years now.... I HAD BEEN PAINTING SINCE 1995 AND IN 2005 I HEARD THE NEWS : YOU HAVE BC!! OH DEAR ...WHAT A SHOCK TO HEAR THOSE TERRIBLE WORDS ...THE FIRST THING I DID AFTER MY SURGERY AND DURING THE LONG MONTHS OF CHEMO AND HERCEPTIN WAS TO START PAINTING RIGHT AWAY :IT WAS AND STILL IS MY STRONGEST PERIOD OF CREATIVITY! I HAD A SHOW OF MY WORK JUST 1 YEAR LATER AFTER DX.... I NEVER FELT THAT MY ART WORK WOULD SAVE ME FROM DEPRESSION AND THE HIGH ANXIETY THAT WALKS WITH US THROUGH THE TREATMENT..
I AM IN CANADA NOW... IF SOMEBODY WANTS TO WRITE PLEASE DO SO....WELCOME ALL I CAN SHARE MY CROSSROADS PAINTINGS WITH YOU!
- Posted by LILI 9/20/09 11:38 PM
This is a beautiful post. I'd love to see the pot now. Here's a post on healing through art that emphasizes how healing can take place even when terrible losses are permanent: http://www.tinyurl.com/HS-081409
With hope, Wendy
- Posted by Wendy S. Harpham, MD 9/22/09 9:28 AM
I love the example of re-making the broken pot because, as a personal historian/life coach, it reminds me of my work in helping people revise and recreate their shattered narratives following diagnosis. Whether it's through writing or telling one's story, or using another art form, there's something profoundly healing about the creative act of re-visioning and re-making one's self and one's world.
- Posted by Linda Blachman, MPH, MA 9/23/09 9:01 PM