Vestibular Bloom

As a follow-up to Wall Becomes a Window shown at Reimagine 2018, Vestibular Bloom extends my work with women living with metastatic breast cancer. During retreats with small groups of women at Commonweal in Bolinas, I offer photography as a way of anchoring their connections to time, place and each other.

Each Bay Area Young Survivors (BAYS) weekend is singular; this one found the women gathering around Lori, a regular participant nearing her last days, and making time for themselves on the land.

The poetic depth of the retreat felt echoed in Emily Dickinson’s verses, and the lush Bolinas flora brought to mind the poet’s impressive collection of pressed flowers. To honor all this, the installation includes Dickinson’s Herbarium and a light box of blooms–vestibular reminders of transitional states, equilibrium and impermanence.