Art & Care: Living with & Beyond Cancer - Artist Talk with Marcia Reifman and Andrés de Varona

Art & Care: Parenting with and Beyond Cancer

Art & Care: Living with & Beyond Cancer is a collaborative project exploring cancer experiences as expressed through visual art organized by Boston University professors Robin Newman (SAR) and Toni Pepe (CFA). The initiative will include public lectures and an exhibition. This collaboration is proudly supported in part by the BU Arts Initiative.

Thursday, May 4, 4 pm. Artist Talk with Marcia Reifman and Andrés de Varona. The Commons at the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground – 808 Commonwealth Ave. Room 205. Reception to follow in the exhibit space. RSVP at the link below.

Reifman and de Verona will present their individual and collaborative work exploring time, the landscape, and the nature of illness.

Marcia Reifman (MFA, Photography, M.Ed. Art Education) – Marcia is the retired department chair of Media Arts at Santa Fe Community College in New Mexico, where she has twice been honored with the Teacher Excellence Award. She also taught photography at the Santa Fe Workshops for 11 years, Photography and Spirituality at Ghost Ranch Conference Center, NM, served as house manager for Photo New York, Photo LA, and Photo San Francisco, bringing over 20 years’ experience in the photography field, as a commercial and fine art photographer, educator, and designer. She notes, “I’ve done a lot: stayed in school (as student and educator) as long as possible, travelled through Europe and overland to India (when you could), lived and worked in small communities in New Mexico, sewed and lived in an 18ft. tipi, built a house, remodeled and landscaped others, dabbled in jewelry making, baked and sold 40,000 whole wheat donuts: basically choosing to explore what life brings, therefore living very frugally, but pretty free. It has included a cruel battle with cancer, and also a tentative new journey in life. I was born into a non-practicing Jewish family, but somehow was infused with the cellular knowledge and deep connection with my Jewish heritage.”

Andrés de Varona – “I was born into two Cuban families and grew up in Miami as a first generation Cuban-American. The majority of my teen years were spent running cross-country while I attended high school. Being interested in images and writing, and pressured to take a more practical approach, I pursued journalism. However, I realized that I didn’t want to take pictures, but instead create them. Little by little I’ve learned to speak a language true to myself. My mother’s death helped me discover this, and it galvanized my need to know more about who I am and what I can express. After graduating, I attended Center’s Photographic Review in Santa Fe which led me to relocate in New Mexico. Since moving to the desert, I’ve been eager to learn what it truly means to connect with others as well as myself. I’ve also become better at resourcing things and working with my hands. Much of my exploring of materials (such as metals, wires, asphalt papers, etc..) has come from working on construction projects with Jerry West, and Refuge collaborations with Marcia Reifman. Art is my tool to measure cycles of indignation and of healing, our growth as human beings, and as a way to record victories. What I create is an access point to myself, as well as an attempt to enter the collective human experience.”

In partnership with Sargent College Department of Occupational Therapy and the BU School of Visual Arts Print Media & Photography program, the BU Arts Initiative is honored to present Everyday Rituals of Care: Parenting with and Beyond Cancer on the second-floor landing of the George Sherman Union (775 Commonwealth Ave.) September through October 15, 2023. This exhibition is one part of a year-long project led by Robin Newman, Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Occupational Therapy and Toni Pepe, Assistant Professor of Art, Photography during which OT students and Photography students will explore more than 100 images analyzing the image and corresponding text through both the clinical and artistic perspectives. In the Spring semester, there will be a second exhibit in the College of Fine Arts of additional works along with panel discussions on the intersection of art, medicine, and health.

These images represent aspects of daily life while parenting with or beyond a cancer diagnosis. Their photography captures the brief, beautiful moments that exist while going through life-changing circumstances. Please take time to review these works and read the corresponding captions. More information on the second exhibit is TBD.