Name
L Palacio

Brain Tumor Type
Craniopharyngioma

Date of Diagnosis
10-10-2000

Participant Group
Brain Tumor Survivor / 21 and over

Category
Photography/Digital Art

Artist Statement (include type of art, techniques & materials used, what it means to you)
This piece is a photo collage made from scanned and raw images all taken and edited by me in photoshop. This was a project I crafted when I was struggling with the challenges that life can throw at all of us. Based off the tail of Icarus and the myth ouroboros the snake that ate it own tail. This is a depiction of how just like how Icarus choose to fly to close to the sun the only guarantee in life is our own demise, and like the dice around the image depicts everything else is to chance. In this way I’m making the statement that even if the next steps of my life should lead me to failure that in itself holds value. Choosing to burn brightly instead of fading to the wayside takes courage that I hope to exhibit even in failure.

Artist Bio: Tell Us Your Story
Hi, my name is L I’m a 26 year old craniopharngioma survivor as of October of this year I’ll be 24 years in remission. As many of you reading this may know surviving this tumor is just the beginning for a lot of us myself included. Everyday of my life is dealing with the aftermath of this tumor. I recently graduated college which is huge accomplishment I don’t think many people or my doctors ever thought was going to happen. At first I was only given a 2 percent chance of survival then told I wouldn’t make it to 5, then 7, then 16 it would seem that I keep defying the odds. I’m grateful to be able to do what I can , but as I enter this post graduate time in my life I am once again having the challenges of surviving this tumor thrown in my face. Weather it be the optic nerve damage that makes me unable to drive or the chronic fatigue and medication taking its toll mentally and physically. The challenges I face always seem to loom which is why art has always been my outlet. In many ways I have always felt limited by my health but never with art it’s my way of connection to the world outside of living as a survivor of this tumor. I take pride in all my accomplishments but art is something I feel is unmarked by the tumor I survived. In that way everything I make is a sentiment of fighting for more then just survival. My art is throwing my ability to thrive despite this tumor that has scarred the entirety of my life. Despite world weary way in which I sometimes feel I will continue to overcome these challenge and grow more as an artist and a person outside of the confines of what this tumor tries to define me as.