#3: Martha Hall, Art Galleries and Social Cohesion

After receiving the devastating diagnosis that she had breast cancer, Martha Hall used her emotions and suffering as inspiration while creating her artists books. In these books, Hall used text, images and colors to portray what living with cancer is actually like and how the repetitive scans, appointments and diagnoses can crush one’s morale and soul. Her hope was to share these books with doctors, other cancer patients and the public in order to spread her story and leave behind her legacy.

While visiting the Martha Hall gallery in the University of New England’s library, I instantly was overcome with all kinds of emotions: sadness, desperation and at times I even felt sick to my stomach. The words on her pages and the fragility of the books reminded me how delicate life truly is and how we should live as if we have only a few days left. Reading about her cancer experience reminded me of a close family friend of my family. Our friend, Pat, is a current principal of a Vermont high school and a coach for the club ice hockey team I play for. In 2015, Pat was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and the cancer had already spread to his back. Hearing this news was devastating and watching Pat experience the treatments and chemotherapy was extremely difficult. I cannot begin to fathom what Pat and Martha both went through during their treatments and daily life.

Martha’s work and being able to view her books in a museum is very beneficial when trying to understand her story. Viewing artwork and different materials within galleries and museums allows visitors to relate their personal stories to the artist’s experiences, similar to the way I thought of Pat when viewing Martha’s gallery. It also creates social cohesion where a group of people express their personal stories and create strong relationships and bonds.  My classmates and I shared our stories after spending some time in the museum and Martha’s work touched almost every person in some way. I could feel the bond between our class grow as students were sharing their vulnerable experiences. I personally learned more about my classmates and I now have a better understanding of their backgrounds and who they are as people.