Cape Breton art exhibit helps cancer survivors for making tough times easier

Cancer patients make artistic impression Cancer patients tap into their artistic side to cope with the disease and enlighten others about their experiences.

People fighting one of life's toughest battles have created some powerful pieces of self-expression that are on display at the Art of Living exhibit in Sydney.

The goal of Art of Living is to help people living with cancer put their feelings on canvas.

As cancer survivor Ashley Criss's music plays through the loud speaker, her lyrics and artwork hang on the wall at the Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design.

It depicts her life with cancer over the past year.

“I've had the support of family and friends,” said Criss. “I was lucky enough that we caught it at stage one, so I only needed one treatment.”

At the age of 30, Criss was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. There have been some tough times, but she is now cancer free.

She credits the Art of Living for making the tough times a little easier.

“It's actually helped me tremendously because most people can't express themselves in some ways and music has been a great opportunity to express the few hard times that I've had,” Criss said.

Catherine Moir is the organizer of the exhibit and also one of the artists who works with cancer patients and survivors.

The goal is to interpret personal feelings about battling cancer through art, music or photography.

“Some people are quite ill and some people are in and out,” said Moir. “There's a different journey for every person who has cancer. It's never the same, so every year we have a totally different show.”

After seven years as the organizer, Moir was diagnosed with breast cancer herself. She says her personal experience gave her a new perspective on the program.

“It made me go deeper into my own feelings and understand them better,” Moir said. “And then I was able to connect with people who had deep feelings too. So it was actually a big help.”

The exhibit is open to the public until Monday, July 9. This is the eighth year and this year there are 10 people diagnosed with cancer participating. While they all have different stories, they share a lot of similarities.

“We all shared time,” Criss said. “The waiting between doctors, the wondering about the results, the constant ticking of the clock and sitting by the phone. We all shared time.”

Through this shared experience, all participants are hoping to be better able to deal with a life-changing disease.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.