Last summer, I got the opportunity to
donate one of my paintings to the prestigious BC Women’s Hospital in Vancouver.
The BC Women's Hospital & Health Centre offers
comprehensive maternity care and a range of programs and clinics dedicated to
improving the health of women, newborns and their families in Vancouver, BC.
Every 2
years, I come to the screening mammography centre at the Hospital to do my routine
screening. The screening
Mammography centre offers screening
mammograms, which are the best way to find early breast cancer. The earlier a
cancer is detected, the more options a woman has for treatment and the
better chance she has for a cure.
The clinic is beautiful, carefully designed
with calming and neutral colors and bare walls. Last time I went, I thought that
my work would look very nice on one of the empty walls. With hundreds of women coming
and going every month, my poignant and whimsy women would be the perfect fit
for this audience. I took some photos of the empty walls, went to my studio and
in my computer, using Photoshop, I made mock-ups of how some of my paintings
might look on the walls of the clinic.
I then contacted Jill Diamond. Jill Diamond is a board member of the BC Women’s Foundation. The BC Women’s Foundation supports the Hospital’s urgent and future priority needs like purchasing modern, state-of-the-art equipment and technology, supporting program and service development and expansion, supporting the Hospital’s site redevelopment and building research, education and training capacity. Through fundraising campaigns, signature events, and growing support from partners in the community, BC Women’s Foundation supports the BC Women’s Hospital.
With Jill's support
and guidance I managed to contact the right person. The staff at the Foundation liked the idea and the style of my work and offered me the opportunity to showcase one
of my works at the mammography centre. The staff and
I had to choose the best artwork for the centre, taking in account the neutral colors, the
composition and size of the work and of course choosing the most appealing
story for the hospital’s setting. “Helping Hands” was the chosen one.
To create “Helping Hands”, I interviewed two women that shared with me their years of close friendship and how they support each other when life gets challenging. In this artwork, I chose to focus on the women holding hands. Hands are a symbol of love, care, help and support. Most women rely on their close friends for support, especially when life gets challenging and I felt that this story- of friendship and closeness- would be the perfect one!
The
Foundation set a date for delivery and last summer (2015) I went to see the
artwork in display and to meet the doctors that supervise the screening centre.
I want to share with you the testimonials of 2 good friends who called me after visiting the centre and seeing my work:
Alex Moses’s
Testimonial: “Hi Jaz, I saw your work at the centre today. It looks beautiful
and gave me a sense of comfort before going to get my first ever screening”.
Michal
Sitvon’s Testimonials: “Wow, I just saw your painting at the clinic! I was so
proud to know the artist behind the work; I loved the story told in the little
sign by the work. It helped me relate more to the painting”.
"The stories you believe to be true are the ones your life will become" with love, Jazmin
Visit my website: Jazmin Sasky
