Women, art and cancer - Yazzy's at www.willaimverdult.com

With so many vividly hued paintings displayed on the walls, it's easy to overlook the collection of slender hypodermic needles dangling from a string attached to the ceiling in a corner of the Green Rice Gallery.

Most of the dozen needles once contained a blood-boosting medicine injected into the veins of Jenny Do. Do, who runs the modest art gallery inside her law office in downtown San Jose, was diagnosed with breast cancer three months ago.

Near the bottom of the strand is the final needle, which dwarfs the rest and had contained the powerful chemotherapy drug that is administered to Do twice a month. Underneath the needles - apparently to collect the overflow - is a dainty ceramic rice bowl and a pair of chopsticks.

That somber piece is part of an exhibition called "Metamorphosis" that showcases art work by Do and six other women who have been touched by cancer. The exhibit continues at the gallery through Oct. 17.

Do, 41, a San Jose attorney and painter, opened the modest gallery two years ago to provide a venue for Vietnamese-American artists. Art, she says, "should be a duty call to make social change. I want to get the word out, and I wanted to get it out through art."

Some paintings on display are abstract, like the pastels depicting smooth, round cancer cells drifting lazily across the canvas. A black-and-white piece shows a woman with her head reared back in a primal scream in reaction to news of her cancer diagnosis. Along a back wall are several photographs of Do's bare torso, breasts exposed, immediately before and several weeks after her July surgery to remove the malignant lump.

"Usually, we don't talk about the breast in the Asian community," said Do, who said those photos disturbed some exhibit-goers. "Referring to the breast is still something that is taboo. I need to have people be shocked so they come home and take care of themselves."

Go to original article