* "We found out in August 1987 that Roberta, my wife, had terminal cancer. We agreed to record the progress of her illness with paintings done every three months. Last painting--July 1988. She died November 18, 1988." - Philip Behymer/El Paso, Texas.

* "I brought my paints to the hospital when I was admitted almost five years ago at age 63. I had a biopsy and was slated for a lumpectomy and lymphectomy, fortunately on my left side. I am right-handed. From that day, I have never stopped painting. Everything is fair game: animals, landscapes, a series of old chairs, portraits and abstracts, too. As the mother of four children and grandmother of two, I finally have the time to paint. Every day is a gift." - Carolyn Harvey/Marshfield, Mass.

* "My twin sister and I shared our lives for 49 years. I photographed her during her battle with cancer. I also took photos of her the day after she died." - Becky Young/Philadelphia, Pa.

These three life-and-death observations and their visual pendants are among the 59 powerful human stories that are being "told" on campus through August 25 in "Confronting Cancer Through Art," sponsored by The University of Pensylvania Cancer Center . This juried exhibition of works by artists whose lives have been touched by cancer is co-sponsored by Penn's Arthur Ross Gallery , and is on display at the Arthur Ross Gallery and the Meyerson Galleries.

"Confronting Cancer Through Art" celebrates the courage and creativity of all those who have confronted cancer, either through their own experiences or those of family members or friends. More than 80 works in a range of media--paintings, sculpture, photography and mixed--vividly illustrate the myriad emotions of the cancer experience.

"Cancer is not just one disease, and no two people cope with it in the same manner," said John H. Glick, M.D., director of the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center. "Each person--be it a patient, family member or friend--deals with a cancer diagnosis in a very personal and individual way, drawing strength and courage from a variety of sources. Art as a therapeutic expression of the cancer experience is beneficial not only for the individual who creates it, but for those who view it as well."

"I had long been on the lookout for a show that would present the work of our medical area, and this fitted the bill," said Dilys Winegrad, director/curator of the Arthur Ross Gallery. "The gallery is particularly interested in shows that forward, promote and represent activities of all areas of our research University. Ultimately, I aim to show how art impinges on disciplines and areas far beyond those most obviously associated with the visual arts. How better to illustrate this than for the Cancer Center to recognize the enormously therapeutic, even uplifting, role of creativity in coping with malady, by letting their patients and their families 'speak' through art?"

Gerald Silk, associate professor at Temple University's Tyler School of Art, was the show's curator and one of the jurors; the other jurors were Judith Tannenbaum, associate director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Becky Young, artist and lecturer in photography at Penn's Graduate School of Fine Arts, and Winegrad.

When Penn's Cancer Center and the Arthur Ross Gallery put out a call for submissions for the exhibition, the response was exceptional: more than 300 slides from 125 people. The jurors knew they could not accommodate all the works they wished to accept, even though a second gallery space had been added. So they created a Virtual Gallery, which allows additional works not on display to be viewed on computers located within the Arthur Ross and Meyerson Galleries. More importantly, the entire exhibition--works displayed in both galleries and those on computer--can be seen on Oncolink, the Cancer Center's web site, at http://www.onconolink.upenn.edu .

"As a juror, I wanted to select works that stand on their own as visual statements and are not primarily didactic," said Tannenbaum. "I also felt it was important not to shy away from images because they might cause viewers discomfort. How can you do a show about cancer that would not be unsettling or upsetting? However, I think the show may also be enormously affirming--for the artists, their families and friends, the medical community, and general viewers--because it raises our consciousness about cancer, as it relates both to individual experience and to larger societal issues."

Winegrad said that asking Becky Young to be a juror was a natural choice. She is an instructor on the faculty, an artist who had a show at the Arthur Ross in 1991, and whose twin sister, Nan, died of cancer. "The most-compelling reason for me to accept the invitation to be a juror was the monumental effect that my sister's death had on me and all my subsequent work," she said. "I hardly agreed to be a juror out of a sense of duty, but out of a personal need to understand my own issues concerning her illness and death, and to experience how others dealt with their issues."

This "dealing with issues" goes to the heart of Young's own work in the exhibition. "Nan and I had made a pact before she died, that she would leave the world the same way she came into it, with me beside her," the artist said. "I got into bed and held her while she died. My camera was in the room--I had photographed her the day before. I realized, when I saw it, that I had to photograph her, immediately, before they took her away. It was never discussed or planned. When my parents left the room, I took one picture. However, the next day, I did go to the funeral home and, deliberately, took a roll of film that included the two photographs in this show.

"It was five years later that I was able to make these images into prints that were sensitive enough to exhibit. They were originally in color and quite graphic. I felt it was a very delicate issue to show photographs of a dead person, especially my twin sister. But having found the way, they are, without a doubt, the most-meaningful photographs that I have taken or, probably, will ever take."

Return to Compass Features for July 16, 1996