I looked into his eyes from across the table. Our children have climbed together for years, and yet I had no idea that his life was devoted to cancer research and his heart was committed to being fully present with his patients... even as they are dying from cancer.
It was like finding my way into a parallel universe. My work, rich with relationships and the gifts that presence brings, takes me to many of the same emotional places. As I set out on this journey to photograph parents with cancer, I know that I will find myself in his shoes again and again.
It's not just that he helped me with terminology like cancer recurrence and it's not simply that he helped express the crystals of thought that go with each slide, he listened. He gifted me his presence, and I could feel my words come together. I could feel my worlds come together.
Healing is the opportunity to put back together broken pieces inside ourselves. It is the chance to return to wholeness.
I know that I cannot make someone else's painfully circumstances go away, but I can be present with the darkness and see the light inside of that person.
When I am able to capture that light and reflect it back in the images l share, it brings us together. When the images can be shared, it connects all of us. In the most profound ways, it gives us all the chance to find our own healing.
This is the meaning behind my work, the reason I continue to pick up a camera.
Thank you, Gary Hammer, for being a part of my journey.
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