Today we’d like to introduce you to Mali Schwartz
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
When I was diagnosed with HER2 breast cancer in the summer of 2017, during Labor Day weekend, I was floored. I was 66, a proponent of holistic health, and had begun asking myself what I wanted to do with the rest of my life after raising four children. There was a fourteen-year spread between my oldest and youngest child, so after walking each of them down the wedding aisle, I felt a sense of well-earned freedom.
I had already taken some art classes at my local Jewish Community Center. I was honing my skills as an artist, painting landscapes, still life and grandchildren portraits. I had decided to take a certification to become a doula, a birthing coach. Attending several births was an incredible experience. I connected with the birthing high that new mothers felt, their hormones of love at an all time high.
I kept up with my annual visits to my internist, but in traveling back and forth from New Jersey to Florida, I missed three annual mammograms. By the time I
found the tumor that was silently growing in my breast, it had spread to my lymph nodes.
I found my tumor in a dream. My daughter and her family, including her one-month-old baby girl, were visiting over that fateful weekend. Needing to rest, I decided to take a nap toward the end of the day. My bedroom door was ajar and in my light sleep, I overheard the baby crying loudly, wanting to be fed. These cries triggered long term memories of breastfeeding my children. In my dream, I startled myself awake, my next thought being, “I need to nurse the baby.”
Feeling a pull on my left breast, I woke up with a start. That’s when I felt a lump in my breast that I later found out was a Stage 2B tumor! We can’t ignore the connection between women’s hormones and our subconscious. My dream saved me from waiting even longer to get a medical screening.
I was put on an aggressive protocol including chemotherapy, a lumpectomy, and radiation. While I was being treated, I began researching the types of drugs I was prescribed which included Taxotere and Carboplatin. I decided that I would paint my three-part cancer journey series after I had completed my procedures. I called my first painting “Bitter Pill,” which depicted my chemotherapy drugs on either side of a large pill with clear drops that dripped down. These drops represented the chemo that was IV dripped into me and the tears of women who must undergo this treatment.
My experience with radiation was anxiety-inducing. I had just finished surgery two weeks before my first treatment. I was told to lie still on a flat surface with my hands held up, that slowly moved into the machine. I was at an all-time claustrophobic high, what helped me get through these five days a week for six weeks process was to imagine that the radiation machine interior was a white womb that helped me to heal. I depicted a new breast-feeding new mother in a hospital setting (which paid tribute to my dream), and an older, frailer woman getting her radiation treatment, and called this image, “A Dream.”
My third and final painting was of a woman praying in an open dark cave with a depiction of her soul flying up into the cave opening into the clouds. I called this painting “A Healing,” which I wanted to be a message of healing for women undergoing a health challenge.
This was the first time I wanted to show my work to a larger audience. I completed in the summer of 2020 during the COVID pandemic and contacted the Miami Beach Jewish Community Center, offering to curate an art show during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. The parameters of the call for artists were that they either had experienced cancer themselves or knew of family or friends who had.
I am proud to say that I recruited approximately 12 artists and 1 writer that participated in this art exhibition. I also organized a virtual online program. As each artist presented what their paintings, crafts and writing meant to them, I knew I felt that I had made a real impact with a woman who participated in a Gilda’s Club writing group. She later told me that having a platform to share her story with others had helped her to heal from her cancer experience.
I have shown my work at local South Florida libraries, art guilds, and performing arts centers. I met my curator Alina Ko through promoting my art exhibition and I
am grateful to be able to continue sharing my work with others. It’s become important for me to show my art to the public, my message being we are all in this together.
I can say that my own experience with breast cancer has made me a true artist, one that wants to probe deeper into interpretive art.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Processing my feelings about finding out I had breast cancer has made me a better
artist, able to express my thoughts about the suffering I endured during my protocol.
Sharing my breast cancer journey series with other women has helped me to reach out
to help others to heal emotionally, spiritually and physically, in a holistic way. It’s
important to look at a whole human being, in their entirety.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I know that stress is a trigger point that causes disease in the body. I want people to
think about calming their systems down so they can build their immunity which helps to
prevent disease. For me, dealing with breast cancer through art helped me to deal with
my intense feelings.
How do you think about luck?
I feel blessed that I had a good report about my breast cancer being in remission. I
appreciate life on a deeper level, trying to enjoy what each day brings. I enjoy painting,
exercising, writing, and reading books.
Pricing:
- $250
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @narrativeartbymali
