10-Mile Radius
On May 4, 2013, Cat Gwynn found a sizable lump in her right breast. Ten days later the acclaimed photographer was diagnosed with Triple Negative breast cancer – a disease longed feared. Her mother had succumbed to breast cancer after a five-year battle. Now it was Cat’s turn to live with it. This meant sitting with mortality, difficult side effects, and every other uncertainty being thrown her way. As the treatment protocol intensified, her immune system became more compromised, requiring limited expose to the world around her. Cat mapped it out: her day-to-day existence was now reduced to about a ten-mile radius.
Surrendering to this confined reality, Cat decided to engage in a daily practice of seeking out images with her smartphone that would connect her to the immediacy of life. There was no filtering what she found, only a genuine curiosity to see things as they were and how she chose to frame them. Every thing, detail, and day mattered, all inspiration for mindful expression.
Cat didn’t set out to make an art project about her experience with cancer, but over time realized it was a conceptual way to show her quest for wellbeing and willingness to uncover aspects of the world that are normally overlooked. By being present with deep truth, she was opening herself up to her own healing and reclaiming life in the most profound way.
10-Mile Radius:
Reframing Life On the Path Through Cancer
This book is for the seekers and the makers, for those who stand in their unmistakable radiance, and for those striving to rekindle their own spark. Remember, a brilliant light casts a long shadow. This is our full spectrum. Healing takes effort and courage. Trust your heart, it’s a reliable compass.
Radiant People
( I met on my 10-mile radius )
Finally radiation. I chose a facility close to my home. It was a mile each way, so I figured I’d get some exercise and could make photos along the way. I start observing people I pass on my daily walk to treatment. We all seem so different when really, at our core, we’re the same. These folks don’t necessarily know I’m going through cancer. I certainly don’t know what they’re going through.
But we all have a story…
All images © 2000-2023 Cat Gwynn