Think life during the COVID-19 pandemic has been hard? Imagine what it’s been like for Alaskans who have been fighting cancer. Add the terrifying experience of chemotherapy, radiation and being immune-compromised during a pandemic to the list of other effects such as isolation, loneliness and lack of access to health care – yet many Alaskans have survived and thrived. Pandemic Portraits, an exhibit honoring Alaska women who have faced cancer during COVID is a new Affinityfilms, Inc. project, and can be experienced at a venue near you.
“We wanted to honor the women who have been doing ‘double duty’ – cancer treatment during the pandemic,” said Affinityfilms producer and director Mary Katzke in a press release. “It’s important to understand the experience these women have been through, and how courageous they’ve been against all odds.”
Pandemic Portraits includes a photo and an audio story of 16 Alaska women from across the state. Fifteen different photographers took the photos. Author Deb McKinney wrote two- to three-minute narratives about each woman’s story. By clicking on a QR code on each photo, you can listen to narrator Michelle Conklin read the stories, allowing for insight into the journey each woman faced. The stories are as unique and heroic as the women profiled.
Pandemic Portraits just wrapped up its exhibit at Loussac Library in Anchorage. Other Alaska communities interested in hosting the exhibit can contact Katzke to arrange for the exhibit to visit in 2022. There is no cost, other than covering shipping costs for one large box.
Pandemic Portraits is sponsored by the Alaska Run for Women and Alaska State Council on the Arts.
Affinityfilms, Inc. is a nonprofit media production company formed in 1982. The company has a long history of coordinating projects around cancer, including six documentary films on cancer, many public service announcements, wellness calendars and a previous photo exhibit called “Alaskans in Pink,” which is permanently housed at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. To schedule the exhibit, or to learn more about Affinityfilms, go to www.affinityfilms.com.
