Beyond Breast Cancer: Sal Brownfield Paints Portraits and Tells Stories of Healing

Celebration of Healing:
Lives Impacted by Breast Cancer 

Standing in front of his paintings, Sal Brownfield said that he takes no ownership of them. Their description was told through the stories of their subjects. In essence, he got out of the way and the art took him and the subjects where they needed to go. Eleven of Brownfield’s paintings are currently on display at the Center for Ethics as part of the Ethics & the Arts Initiative. Celebration of Healing: Lives Impacted by Breast Cancer, is a subset of a much larger body of work entitled Testaments and Shelter and totals twenty-three paintings that together look like the stained glass windows of a church. Walking through the exhibit space, Brownfield shared personal stories of real lives touched by breast cancer.

            The “woman in a high backed chair” sits topless with a celebratory and confident look on her face. She worked in the non-profit sector providing psychological counseling services for people suffering from illness and has a tattoo that symbolizes her work. On the occasion of viewing the finalized portrait, her response was to write poem that expressed the healing power of “seeing her mangled body appear on canvas.”

            The “woman with pink beads” has a look of courage on her face and, as Brownfield described, a feisty demeanor. She demanded that radiation be upped to eighty percent, well beyond the normal dose, so she could live to be with her children. For those children, she led by example and followed through with a bucket list that included skydiving.

            The “man with striped pants” quit his job one day and for thirteen years lived his dream of being a clown. Brownfield chuckled describing his grumpy attitude. When the show first opened at a gallery in Atlanta, Brownfield insisted that he attend. His wife said those were some of the best months of his life because the anticipation made him hopeful. At his funeral his fellow clowns, dressed in full regalia, carried his casket.

Celebration of Healing:
Lives Impacted by Breast Cancer

            The “woman in a black dress” stands with a shy and serious look on her face. The extraordinary part of her story was the support she got from her community. Brownfield described it as, “the life of everyone was pulling in.” Friends would come to her house and put a chair out for her in the driveway. She would sit and watch as they planted her garden.

            The paintings are all composed of stories like these and they each have a pink ribbon imbedded in their dazzling array of colors. The painted panel of canvas that hangs across from the Celebration series is appropriately titled “The Storyteller: We Are the Stories.” Brownfield spent hours, days and sometimes months to incorporate colors that would give life to the subjects. Just as these paintings tell stories, there is a story behind the art. Sal’s story is that an idea and some paint grew into a web of relationships. These relationships impacted the painter as well as the subjects in profound and unexpected ways. To view these paintings is to piece these stories together and find that art is a powerful form of healing. 

Celebration of Healing: Lives Impacted by Breast Cancer

Artist Talk with Sal Brownfield

Wednesday April 11, 2012

6:30pm
Emory University Center for Ethics
1531 Dickey Drive
Atlanta, GA  30322