Dialogues with painting on clear acrylic plates
Participatory art project with cancer patients from the Metropolitan Hospital
Photographic record of a dialogue with painting on glass performed with public in 2016 at the “Festival de Arte 48h”, in São Paulo.
PERIOD
October 2024 / October 2025
LOCATION
Metropolitan Hospital
1901 First Ave, NY, 10029
(626) 926-3879
WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
A connection between breast cancer patients and the artists using painting, a form non-verbal communication.
The purpose of this collaboration between artist and patient is to provide an atmosphere of well being where the healing process through painting and creating can begin.
GOALS
Our goal is healing.
Thought is the beginning of action.
Directing our thoughts to where we want to go helps the healing process.
We belong to the cosmos, we are part of it, and we are all interconnected.
If we seek our healing, we seek the healing of our home, of our loved ones, and therefore, of our surroundings.
Healing is a universal process.
All of us, inhabitants of this planet are part of this body that is Earth. We are like cells inhabiting it. Let's focus our thoughts on the healing of Earth through a dialogue with painting on a transparent acrylic plate in which we materialize our thoughts.
Our healing will be improved as a consequence.
APPROACH
The meditation sets the mind, directs thoughts in the direction of a positive and constructive path, which not only emotionally helps the patients in dealing with the disease, but also contributes to strengthening their immune system.
The establishment of connections and dialogues between the patients and the artists is also an important component of the project as the feeling from the patients of being seen and heard is emotionally extremely positive.
SOME THOUGHTS AND REFERENCES
“...thinking about something produces effects, just as doing something produces...
“…our reality is created by our own projections. It is thought that creates the external world beyond us.”
“...our activities say who we are. We are the way we act.”
Quotes from Francisca Cho by Begley, p.29, 2008.
Mind and Life Institute studies confirm that thought has enough power not only to cause physical and tangible changes in our being, but it is also capable of causing changes in our surroundings.
Dan Buettner (“Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones”) identified essential things present in the lives of long-lived people:
a. Being connected to other people, feeling welcomed, beloved and close to family and community.
b. Practice of creative activities.
Susan Andrews has been scientifically dedicated to researching happiness for years. She identified that the happiest people are those surrounded by affection, those who practice meditation, and people who feel useful in the community to which they belong.
Publications
ANDREWS, Susan. A ciência de ser feliz. São Paulo: Ágora, 2011.
BEGLEY, Sharon. Treine a mente: mude o cérebro. Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, 2008.
FELDENKRAIS, Moshe. Consciência pelo movimento. São Paulo: Summus Editora, 1972.
Site
Documentary
BUETTNER, Dan. Live to 100: secrets of the blue zones. Netflix 2023.
DESCRIPTION
Project duration: 12 months
Dialogues with painting on clear acrylic plates
Monthly dialogue with painting meetings: 10 monthly meetings in which patients, while waiting for their consultation, are invited to communicate with the artists by painting together simultaneously, each one in one side of a 12” x 12” clear acrylic plate.
Set front view
Set upper view
Both participants, artist and patient, will be sitting at the table facing each other, with the only divider being the transparent acrylic plate between them.
They will remain connected throughout the process, seeing each other through the acrylic, and following the evolution of the painting.
There is no pre-established duration of the process.
Each painting ends when the interlocutors stop interacting. However, an average of 10 to 20 minutes is estimated for each patient.
Exhibition & Auction
The project culminates with an exhibition and auction of works produced during the year.
Artwork produced:
. 30 to 130 paint 12”x 12” (estimation of 3 to 13 paintings in each monthly action day).
. Panel with 60 to 260 gesso board ”tiles” 8” x 8” resulting from the patients and artists palettes (will be sold individually).
Dialogues with painting on glass performed with the public in 2016 at the “Festival de Arte 48h” in São Paulo.
Visiting Period:
Relatives and friends of the patients and of the hospital staff would be able to visit the exhibition until the auction.
Days and time to be confirmed by the institution.
Auction & Closing Celebrating Event:
A silent auction would be running during the celebration and would close 40 min before the end of the event.
The buyers would be able to take their paintings with them the same day of the auction, when it ends.
ARTISTS PARTICIPANTS
Anne Harmon - Art dialogues with patients
