2025 July // every.single.one.

Show statement:

In 2017, when I posted images on social media of a photographic series shot in an apple orchard in springtime of my body made hairless from chemotherapy, a friend and ovarian cancer survivor, Ann Miller Titus, commented, “Every. Single. One. Of us who has been with this disease is validated, loved and to a certain extent, freed by this image.” My friend’s comment is universal because every single one of us either knows people whose lives have been impacted by cancer or we have experienced it ourselves.

“every.single.one” became the title for a body of artwork about my own cancer experience, with a live solo performance at the center of that work. The intermedia performance depicts personal, familial and community stories with hereditary cancer while exploring topics of science, genetics, integrative oncology and healing from the patient’s perspective of modern medicine. I began documenting the cancer process in audio-visual material from the onset, including the phone call from the radiologist informing me of the diagnosis of breast cancer in February 2017. (I anticipated that the tumor might be cancer because my sister had been diagnosed twice by that time.) That collection of media contributes to the audio-visual environment of the performance that is integral to the storytelling, along with spoken word and expressive movement and dance. Narratively, “every.single.one” interweaves three levels of testimonial – mine, my sister’s, and that of a chorus of hereditary cancer survivors and previvors, portraying the varied experiences of BRCA genetic mutation carriers. The project draws from ethnographic research, lived experience, field notes, interviews, and scientific data to create a dramatic and varied interpretation of both a deeply personal and universal experience. It provided me with a means to process the life-altering ordeal in which to, in the words of feminist poet Audre Lorde, “examine it, put it into perspective, share it and make use of it.” Not only that, but the endeavor to document my experience in real-time with a possible end-goal of an artistic production previsioned something coming to fruition in a future in which I would be alive.

Many of the works in this exhibition represent the media components that make up the projection and sound design for the live performance in the form of short films and soundscapes. Several of the videos can exist outside of the theatrical setting as stand-alone artworks that can and have been exhibited in international film, video and screendance (dance-for-camera) festivals and art exhibitions. Other works exhibited here relate directly to select scenes in the “every.single.one” performance, such as the Ganesh Visualization dance. In-situ video-performance pieces, such as “Uphold (from below)” were conceived and created as works independent of the live performance, yet excerpts from them will appear intermittingly in the mediated environment of the live performance.