This is the second juried exhibition with this name at the Arthur Ross Gallery of the University of Pennsylvania. The first cooperative exhibition with the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center in 1996 was a powerful learning experience for all involved. We learned that, in transcending their personal suffering through their creative work, artists stirred the interest and provided encouragement to others.

The tenor of the exhibition this time is different. For a start, fewer works than before are uncompromisingly bleak. Artists creating works from their own illness appear to be treating it more in terms of a diseases; before, many saw it as a death sentence. Even in this short time, new treatments and improved medical understanding have increased the likelihood of survival and brought new hope. But something else has changed; in the case of women artists at least, there are opportunities for people to share experiences and communicate with each other, from dedicated magazines to support groups, to a general openness on the subject. This is the broader significance of this exhibition of works in a range of media by 50 artists from all over the USA and from Germany.