Attention: This page contains digital documentation of materials currently being developed for a physical Installation. This is an ongoing record of a work in progress.

Slow Burn

Radiation therapy is invisible, intangible, and unremarkable. It is difficult to quantify and qualify, as the process itself can not be observed. It subverts traditional media capture by virtue of its own nature: you can not record radiation treatment, visually, sonically, or tangibly, as its functional mechanism is invisible to the eye, inaudible to the ear, and — perhaps most importantly — scattered and disrupted by any metallic substances, including those present in traditional media devices and materials.

It does, however, leave a physical record. Though not directly capture-able by contemporary cameras, tape, and film, the marks of radiation emerge over time on the body itself: inscriptions in the form of lines, blocks, and patches of damage. Layer by cellular layer, the effects work their way to the surface, making themselves known. Like wet ink, the marks deepen, seep and spread, and, ultimately fade away.

It is a ‘record’ that is intense and painful, yet unceremoniously brief. Burns heal, and new layers of skin emerge, wiping all evidence of trauma and damage away from sight. The skin of the body becomes an unconventional time-based medium, serving as something between a zoetrope and auto-destructive art piece.

Slow Burn uses specialized Radiochromic film (normally reserved for dosimetry) to materially capture the process of radiation treatment, making visible the unseen photon beams as they work to destroy their target site. Placed behind the patient’s shoulder blade each day, the films below record 25 sessions over the course of 5 weeks. The gradated green areas on each film represent the targeted fields of treatment, making visible the machine’s paths, the radiation’s collimator-shaped edges, and the invisible potency of each session.

Technical Information: 25 fractions of 50 Gy external beam photon radiation targeting the left breast, chestwall and comprehensive regional nodal lymphatics.

Total series.

Top, left to right: Calibration film (0), Treatments 1 - 12.

Bottom, left to right: Treatments 13 - 25.

Individual film scans. Landscape facing up, landscape facing down, portrait facing up, portrait facing down.

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For Nina, Lydia, and Eric.

An enormous thank you to the amazing techs that let me do this crazy experiment (and cheered me along the entire way), and who were also beautiful lights shining in each very dark day. Additional thanks to the nurses, staff, and doctors who cared for me so well, and Good Sam Butler Radiation Oncology for approving my use of their very expensive equipment:

Marcia, Kerri, Melissa, Bethany, Lori, Tiana, Amy, Christy, Deb, Kristina, Theresa, and Dr. Shehata.

Thank you to my family, near and far:

Eric, Nina, Lydia, Julie, Denny, Jack, Lisa, Suzanne, Marnie, Cliff, Sara, Molly and family, Caitlin and family, Nick and family, Luke and family, Alex and family, Lena, Lizzie, Jeanette, Bob, Michael, Jenna, and Andrea.

Additional special thank you to the Reddit communities:

r/Radiology and r/radiationoncology — users u/Traditional_Day4327, u/1head2arms2legs, u/raccoonsandstuff, and u/radoncdoc13 in particular.

Dedicated to my Mom.