Had They Known

People with illness like cancer often face isolation and invisibility as their experiences defy easy recognition by the unaware. Olena M. Marshall’s collage, Had They Known, uses pharmacy miscellany as subtle markers of illness to accessorize the dolls’ images, but veils them in lace and gauze in ways that make these markers difficult to discern. Chosen as “pieces of material culture that embody and convey social beliefs and values” (Sweet 2017), the dolls in the collage share the same space and signifiers, yet remain individually oriented.

The artist’s interest in the issue of how an illness may be experienced in relation to others stems from her doctoral research on how colleges and universities serve students with chronic illness who, similarly, may feel isolated, unseen, and unheard, but have to weigh the cost of privacy against the risks and benefits of self-advocacy and disclosure.

The Art Center – Highland Park, Juried Art Exhibition, Voices & Visions: Standing on the Bridge Between Health and Disease, 2018.