Confronting Cancer Through Art:
An Exhibition Opening June 22

Penn's Cancer Center is sponsoring Confronting Cancer Through Art, a juried exhibition of works by artists whose lives have been touched by cancer. The show, which is cosponsored by the Arthur Ross Gallery, will be on display June 22-August 25,1996, 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 mediapaintings, sculpture, photography and mixed mediavividly 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 personbe 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."

A highlight of the exhibition, Christiane Corbat's "Amazon, The Offering" is a mixed media body cast of a woman who had breast cancer. The woman's pose signifies strength, determination and acceptance, her right hand offering the lost breast without shame. Her scars have been transformed into beautiful ornamentation, representing her triumph over the disease. Another mixed media piece, which features a hair brush and text, was created by Jude Burkhauser as a companion to a collection of poems she wrote titled, "Giving Sorrow Words." She has dedicated her work to her oncologist, DuPont Guerry, IV, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center.

"We are pleased for the opportunity to work with the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center on an exhibition that shows the important associations In our lives between art and medicine," said Dilys Winegrad, Ph.D., director/curator of the Arthur Ross Gallery. "Whatever the emotion expressed in individual worksanger, fear, courage, love, human sympathythe act of creating them takes the artists beyond their particular experience and puts them back in touch with their universal humanity."

For more information on the Cancer Center's Confronting Cancer Through Art exhibition, call the Arthur Ross Gallery, at (215) 898-4401.

Penn Medical Center Press Release

Above: Detail of Jude Burkhauser's Brushing My Hair Until It Falls Away; mixed media, 20" x 44".


Almanac

Volume 42 Number 34
June 18, 1996


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