How do you find beauty and meaning in the most ordinary things when your life is being pulled away from you by the most extraordinary circumstances?
On May 4, 2013 acclaimed photographer, Cat Gwynn found a sizable lump in her right breast. Ten days later she was diagnosed with Triple Negative breast cancer, the rarest and most aggressive type to have. A diagnosis longed fearedher 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 and her immune system became more compromised, Cat mapped it outher day-to-day existence was now reduced to about a ten-mile radius.
Surrendering to this confined reality, Cat knew she needed the courage to say yes to it all. So she decided to engage in a daily practice of seeking out images with her iPhone that would connect her to the immediacy of life. Instead of her smartphone being a device of distraction, it now became a tool of awareness. 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, every detail, and every day mattered, all inspiration for Cat’s creative expression.
Cat didn’t set out to make an art project about her experience with cancer, but over time she realized it was a conceptual way to show her quest for well-being 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.
Wellness is a state of being and each day counts, no matter the circumstances you’re dealt. 10-Mile Radius is a wake up call. A gratitude practice in motion that moves through limitations and becomes a compass back to one’s self. If your life were hanging in the balance, how would you navigate your own 10-mile radius?
On May 4, 2013 acclaimed photographer, Cat Gwynn found a sizable lump in her right breast. Ten days later she was diagnosed with Triple Negative breast cancer, the rarest and most aggressive type to have. A diagnosis longed fearedher 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 and her immune system became more compromised, Cat mapped it outher day-to-day existence was now reduced to about a ten-mile radius.
Surrendering to this confined reality, Cat knew she needed the courage to say yes to it all. So she decided to engage in a daily practice of seeking out images with her iPhone that would connect her to the immediacy of life. Instead of her smartphone being a device of distraction, it now became a tool of awareness. 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, every detail, and every day mattered, all inspiration for Cat’s creative expression.
Cat didn’t set out to make an art project about her experience with cancer, but over time she realized it was a conceptual way to show her quest for well-being 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.
Wellness is a state of being and each day counts, no matter the circumstances you’re dealt. 10-Mile Radius is a wake up call. A gratitude practice in motion that moves through limitations and becomes a compass back to one’s self. If your life were hanging in the balance, how would you navigate your own 10-mile radius?