Living With Cancer: Six-Word Stories Writing and Art Project
by Irene Monticelli
Editor's Note: Please click through the slideshow above to see a close-up of some of the six-word stories.
Kindled by Hemingway's famous six-word tale, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn,” the "six word story" has acted as a writer's prompt for years.
My supervisor Jill Winter, LMSW, and I use this writing exercise in our "Living with Cancer" writing group that meets once a month to facilitate our members’ (both patients and caretakers) inner dialog, expression, and themed group conversation.
Jill had conveyed a wish to do a project with the powerful stories that come out of this group. I have a degree in graphic design. I am an artist and photojournalist, as well. I took up the project because I felt that a display of six-word cancer stories was an amazing way to give a public voice to our group. I was given an empty case for my art installation space.
Jill had been gathering stories before I started at my MSW internship, and I asked for additional current prose from the current groups we facilitated. They truly gave me so many powerful stories that it was hard for Jill and me to choose. I compiled the chosen and then used a diverse color pallet and singular font for each “story” or member's voice. I printed them on a heavy gloss cardstock to give each individual cancer story weight, and so that I could give a nice print back to our patients after we took it down. I decided to suspend them on a thin wire, so that they could float 3D and independently above a field of gold, casting their own shadows. I feel this adds power to the piece, like the authors hung them up themselves. I kept a snow theme on the bottom because of the winter and because each poem is like a snowflake - individual.
We have had a great response from our cancer patients, caretakers, and medical staff. One of our nurses said as she stood in front of it and read each story that it was like a meditative experience for her. Each six-word story is different, and each person reads the stories differently and in their own diverse cultural context. It is a great way to share with the staff the patients’ thoughts.
I feel that a project that can touch the hearts and minds of those who see it is one of the most gratifying things I can do as a social worker. Social work is so diverse, and there are many ways to make a shared impact and bridge community groups.
Irene Monticelli has a graphic arts design degree and bachelor's degree in social work and has more than 10 years of peer experience as a Lymphoma cancer survivor herself, as a caretaker, and as a patient navigator. She is earning a Master of Social Work at Arizona State University in direct practice and gerontology. She is an intern at UMC Banner Arizona Cancer Care Center in Tucson, Arizona.