Above, one of the bronze sculptures to emerge from the Object Breast Cancer project by art duo caraballo-farman. Snip from the project description:
1.3 Million women in the world are diagnosed with breast cancer each year.
For most, the tumor has no image.
It’s an invisible monster, an unseen malignancy.
OBJECT BREAST CANCER (OBC) is based on the conviction that artistic interventions can have important social and psychological effects.
The project includes sculptural and installation work as well as jewelry.
I’m going through treatment for breast cancer right now, and man, this notion of an invisible monster within is something I can definitely relate to.
I don’t know that I’d want to wear jewelry made from a model of the mass we’re trying to eliminate inside me, but there is something primordially satisfying in the idea of being able to clearly see the contours, shape, size, and character of this thing.
I always ask for a copy of my data when I get medical scans related to my cancer treatment, and it would be really interesting to take the “before chemotherapy”/”after chemotherapy” scans and see if I could get a 3D printout of the cancerous mass, as it (science willing!) shrinks. Not that I’d want to look at it all the time, you know? But I really would like to just see the goddamned thing, and understand it, visually. Once.
The “worry bead” design is brilliant. I could sure use one of these to fondle and fret over during chemo.
(thanks, Chelsea!)