Lift Your Eyes Gallery: The Art of Surviving Cancer
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Nice Fangs

7/4/2015

1 Comment

 
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Surviving cancer requires a great deal of genuine bad-assery...  We are one tough crowd!  This does not mean, however, that there aren't days of pure bravado.  Nearly three years past diagnosis, I find myself gritting my teeth some days, trying to look like I've got it all squared away. 100% fraudulent. I think there is a general perception out there that once cancer has been beaten back, life returns to normal. 

Nope.

People have asked me why I paint about cancer, why I talk about it, why I eat differently and make different life choices than in the past.  It's because the battle continues.  I fight with how my body looks and functions now due to treatments; I fight with my mind; I fight with my emotions; I fight with my memories; and I fight with the ever-present awareness that cancer could come back.  Most days I can stare it all down.  "Nice Fangs," I monotone to the tigers in my head.

I find it ironic that on Independence Day I am fighting with my lack of independence from the aftermath of cancer.  I went to the optometrist yesterday to get new contacts, and at the end of the exam he informed me that I have developed a cataract on each eye: "Likely from the chemotherapy."  Well.  In the grand scheme of things, this probably isn't a big deal.  Yet I am very aware that I just got nipped.  Again. Nice Fangs.

1 Comment
Kelly Moore
7/6/2015 02:53:01 pm

Never more that we can handle, right?!
And then there is the continual development of our character empathy and perseverance.

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    I wear a lot of hats in life, encompassing a variety of roles and relationships.  I am becoming more comfortable with the whole "cancer survivor" hat, even finding silver linings in unexpected places ---  like adding artist to my self identity.  "Blogger" hadn't really appealed to me until I began getting requests to talk about what lies behind my art. So I'm going to give it a try.  If you have gotten to this page, you have probably noticed from my paintings that I am quite frank about my experiences.  Some of the images are stark and difficult to look at. To me, beautiful is not the same as pretty.  "Beautiful" encompasses complexity that can include pain, tragedy, and darkness.  Therefore there can be a strange beauty present in stark emotional and experiential truth.  I am a seeker of beauty within pain, and of the beauty that grows out of pain.  If you are too, we'll get along just fine. 

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