Disease in Nature

In Disease in Nature, I try to contextualize my illness in nature to make sense of it and accept it as a natural phenomenon which lives within me. Indeed, nature is fascinating and beautiful but it is also deadly and horrifying, and over the past couple of years, I’ve been trying to come to terms with how vulnerable humans are in the face of nature. And since decay, mutation, and death are all part of nature, thus my rare cancer is no doubt a part of the natural world. 

In this series, I photographed my arm on the outside displaying scars from my desmoid tumor and resulting surgeries done on it. I edited the photograph, printed it and placed it in nature to blend in with its surroundings. Then I photographed the printed photo as it resembled other objects in nature including a rock, tree trunk, and even ice. 

This experience is very humbling, to say the least, especially as I explore themes related to physical and psychological illness in relation to natural phenomena. Even though this illness has robbed me of so much freedom and caused me so much pain, I still don’t find anything more reassuring than to know that I am part of something much bigger than myself. My tumor is constantly changing, as are my body and the surrounding natural world, so even though I celebrate being part of nature, I hope that in the near future, my body will learn to fight this on its own with no to little aid from chemotherapy or hormone therapy which have once altered its composition.  

Tree Trunk in monochrome

Frozen Water in color

Rock in monochrome