By Stephanie Stein
“As we gather around this cancerous table of chance, each of us becomes a player, either as a spectator or as a participant…What are the odds?”
The knife penetrates deep into the flesh of one in nine women, scooping out the cancer that has ravished what’s maternal and sensual. Donna Kriekle is one of 24 artists telling the stories of 100 breast cancer victims who are now living in the aftermath.
She is part of Survivors. In Search of a Voice, The Art of Courage, an exhibit running until August at the Royal Ontario Museum. Organized by Barbara Amesbury and Joan Chalmers, it is financed through the Woodlawn Arts Foundation, of which Chalmers is the president.
“We challenged the artists to listen to the survivors, to touch them, to use art as a weapon, as we believe art can be,” says Amesbury.
The survivors are women, young and old, some of them working positively for breast cancer organizations. These survivors speak through art masterpieces about how the illness affects their femininity and about their fears of death and isolation. They also voice the triumph of overcoming not only the fear of dying, but fear itself.
The survivors and artists are speaking to both women diagnosed with cancer and those fortunate enough to have their health. The exhibit is thought provoking and heartwarming. It was created to open your eyes and give you courage.
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