ENTRY DESCRIPTION
In 2014, at the age of 28, my body betrayed me. A rare and unexpected cancer diagnosis warped the entirety of my physical form throughout the following two years, offering both the space and pressure to examine the identity I housed within it, and adorned upon it.

My female reproductive system was evicted before it could bear a child, leaving me cycle-less and feeling castrated. My skin bloated and blemished, then withered and clung to my bones. Garments could no longer clothe me the way they once did, and the downward spiraling momentum that my life was heading pre-disease was erased and reset. New body, new lease on life, but ultimately a stranger in my own skin. I was a mortal in need of a manual, a woman with a profound feeling of lost femininity.

The work I create explores the malleability of the physical body, as well as its relationship to nature and the transient aspects of both. I use my own shape as a blank canvas to illustrate the disconnection I have felt from my own physicality, and the evolving identities that continue to flow through this vessel. I have been exploring self portrait concepts for over a decade, and continue to be deeply inspired by this body that proves to be infinitely versatile and resilient, foreign and familiar.

AUTHOR
Betsy Brockett lives just outside of Pittsburgh, PA. Her work includes photography, creative writing, and sculpture.

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