MENUThrive: Color Photography
By Sarah Rypma
February through March, 2023
Artist's Statement
Resilience (noun) -The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties
My career as a photographer started in 2013, with the desire to capture my children’s milestones. Through my photography I found my love for storytelling. In June of 2022, a new chapter in my personal story unfolded. I was diagnosed with, Cholangiocarcinoma, a rare and aggressive cancer with a poor prognosis and little research funding. At this time my photography became a form of therapy. When I shoot, I don’t think about cancer, I find myself creating rather than ruminating. In September of 2022, I started art therapy at the University of Michigan, this expanded my experience of art as healing. Through one of our projects, I selected a word to frame my cancer journey - thrive. Thrive became the filter for the selected images in this installation. I chose images from nature with bold colors to represent the courage cancer patients summon in the face of fear. I chose images with contrast between light and shadow to represent the paradox between hope and despair. Despite the darkness, the natural world is wired to grow toward the light. I hope these images inspire those who are suffering to find the light in the darkness and thrive against all odds.
The printing of this exhibit has been generously donated to the artist by White House Custom Colour. Any proceeds from the sale of images will be donated to patient programs at the Rogel Cancer Center.
The Voices Art Gallery is located on level B1 of the Rogel Cancer Center Building.
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The Voices Art Gallery is offered by the Rogel Cancer Center Art Therapy Program and is made possible by gifts to the Helen and Sonya Fund and the Rogel Cancer Center Art Therapy Program. Program supplies are generously supported by the Robert Bruce Dunlap Memorial Fund.
Learn more about how you can make a gift to the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center.