A delicate gift.
December 9, 2016
Fresh from surgery, Jojo still had her drains in. Drains are ugly scary things that look like grenades with plastic tubes inserted into the breast wound. They serve the purpose of draining the blood away from the incision, slowly filling up plastic receptacles in order to reduce the buildup of fluid in the breast, hence decreasing the chance of infection.
Drains are gruesome and scary. I thought of Frida Kahlo. How she had painted her pain, her blood, her medical corsets and of course her beauty. With Frida in mind, I would photograph Jojo and her drains.
As I guided this young woman before my camera, I watched her life force slowly leak from the plastic tubes,into the grenades. I asked her to hold them in her hands with a gesture of offering. A gift of intention. I watched her gift take on life, like that of a baby bird cradled gently in her palms. It was a fragile and delicate gift but it was a gift of Spring and of hope.
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