Mosaic Monday / Abstract Self Portraits

Self Portrait at The Cellular Level
5x7 Mixed Media Mosaic
© rebecca collins rebeccacollins.com

Self Portrait at The Cellular Level #1
5x7 Mixed Media Mosaic
© rebecca collins rebeccacollins.com

Last week I completed two little 5 x7 abstract self portraits using vintage medical illustrations of cells, glass, beads, millefiori, and old glass syringes. The one on the bottom is the first one I did and it is crazy busy and chaotic, much like I imagine the cancer cells to be inside my body when this disease started. The 2nd one on top is calmer and the design work is a little less intuitive and I feel it is pretty representative of where I am at with an illness that has changed my life. Powerful medicine along with some major life style changes have things under control.

I have breast cancer and yet the cancer itself is not about my breasts, it is not about any of the organs that the disease has spread to ... at the end of the day it is about cells, cells that go bad.  I am not at war with my body. I am fighting a battle yes, and I am on a journey yes, but there is more to the story. How much more I do not even know yet.  As an artist that has always been fascinated by medical illustrations and anatomy I wanted to create a work of art that depicted my cells as beautiful, even the chaotic cancer cells that do not behave.  I am sure if I looked at them under a microscope I would find them interesting and fascinating. It is not helpful for me to imagine them as evil invaders.  They are outnumbered by the healthy cells and I know they will eventually cease to exist, for now they are part of me.