Cancer
Jennifer Thoreson, Multidisciplinary Artist

Cancer, From the series Testament, 16”x20”, Pigment Ink on Fiber Rag, 2014

The red mass in this photograph was formed using dyed white Corriedale wool roving. The wool was shorn from the sheep, cleaned and stripped of its oils, then dyed with a heavy red pigment. This process is heavily symbolic, and references the sacrificial lamb. To create the shape, I used a process called needle felting, where wool fibers are tangled together in a precise manner using a tiny, spored needle. When I began to work with the material to create this mass, it began to take on a very tumor-like appearance, meriting the title, Cancer.