Pirate Crew Paper Dolls
It all started with a diagnosis, a poem and a mastectomy…
I want to create humorous, simple and helpful breast cancer educational materials. The idea is to help other women, newly diagnosed navigate through the treatment process easily.
As a child, Erin loved to make and play with paper dolls, a love that was rekindled after her mastectomy. After her surgery, Erin was eager to get back to her art studio but unable to raise her arms higher than her shoulders or lift more than a pound made it difficult.
"I was limited so I got out small brushes and little bottles of ink and paper dolls were what came out of it," says Erin.
Her childhood hobby turned into dolls that represent her life's fight and hopefully can help patients navigate life through and after breast cancer.
"They are people who are scared, tattooed, with lopped off pieces. And if they get a little bit nauseous, they're kind of dizzy with the sickness of seasickness, the chemo, and medication, but because of that also become resilient and fierce," Erin says describing her creations.
Erin foresees a practical use for her dolls as a way to show patients what to expect and guide them through the complicated process of fighting breast cancer. Her goal is to have the paper dolls in production in one year.
"This is something that is not out there," Erin says other breast cancer survivors have said they want a paper doll series that is also a breast cancer education series.
In 2018, I conducted an art and cancer research project funded by the State of Maine Arts Commission.
Shortly after completing the project, I was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Breast Cancer. My colleagues became my doctors.
As a patient, I have gained an entirely new perspective of the what a newly diagnosed women with breast cancer needs. I was handed a thick tabletop book on navigating my journey through breast cancer. Initially, I experienced fog-like concussion helmet that stayed on my head for 2 months. This is an actual condition, referred to as INFORMATION AVERSION or THE OSTRICH EFFECT.
What I needed in my shock and mental fog was Ms.Mastectomy. I just needed something simple, an easy reference. The Pirate Crew Paper Dolls Collection meets this need - it is easy to understand, has visual aids of all the pre and post accessories and surgery preparation items.
“Pirate Crew
Thank you all who have lived to tell the tale.
you bedraggled crew of people with missing parts.
lopped off by voyages into the unknown.
walked the plank into dark waters.
fed chemo and now wear scarf.
talking around grog of the sickness of sway.
now gathering on the island having landed safe.
yet tougher and tattooed.
i am now conscripted to this pirate crew.
my initiation day drawing nigh
EMF Dec 9, 2018”
