A photo exhibition by Distinguished Professor of Biology Thomas McCarthy is on display through Oct. 31 in the Edith Barrett Art Gallery. The exhibit, titled “Chemo Characters: Cancer Coping Mechanisms of the Easily Amused,” depicts McCarthy’s experience with cancer treatments. 

The works showcase McCarthy’s reenactments of people and fictional characters who are bald, such as Charlie Brown and Dr. Evil, and aims to increase awareness of the devastation caused by the disease, while still encouraging people to live life to the fullest.

“Since I lost all my hair during chemotherapy and the treatments were wreaking havoc on my body in numerous and often unpredictable ways, this was a way for me to keep busy during times when I wasn’t feeling very well,” McCarthy said. “I was able to use art and photography as a way to document what was happening to me in a tangible way, and sometimes express myself in ways that I wasn’t able to do verbally.”

McCarthy said the photography offered him a “mechanism to cope with what was going on” by allowing him to have some degree of control. He was able to take the photos that he wanted, manipulate them in ways that he chose and transform himself. 

McCarthy vividly recalled when Theatre Professor Marijean Levering passed away in 2017 following a battle with breast cancer.

“She impacted the lives of many students,” McCarthy said. “I considered her a friend and I thought about her often when I was going through it. Consequently, I’m working with a few offices on campus to use this event as a way to raise money for the scholarship that was created in her memory.”

McCarthy said he hopes everyone who visits the exhibit takes something away.

“I want to raise awareness about that disease – both for women and for men,” McCarthy said. “I also hope that at the very least people are amused by my images, because I view them as something positive that came out of the whole ordeal.” 

His exhibit marks the reopening of the Edith Barrett Art Gallery, which was initially closed after COVID-19 shut down the university in spring 2020, and starts a new transition for the space, according to Laura Salvaggio, faculty theater director and theater professor. 

“There isn’t an exact timeline on these plans, but we do have the beginning of a path forward and we’ll be implementing parts as we have the ability to do so,” Salvaggio said. “ There is a transition planned from its past usage as purely an art gallery to a ‘Collaborative Art Lab’ where people working together on various arts have a space to do exactly that.”

Salvaggio said the goal is to be able to transition from “gallery space to a classroom to black box theater to dance studio rapidly enough to be able to accommodate all of those during the course of the average day.”

The plan is not final and specifics could change as those who are involved in the project discuss the specifics, Salvaggio said, but they do have a vision and know what direction they are moving in. 

“There’s still a lot of work to do, but I think we’ve found a way to balance the goals we have with the resources available,” Salvaggio said. “ I love that there will still be art in the gallery.  I also love that we’ll be bolstering the other arts programs we currently have that are thriving and we found a way for all of that to work together.” 

A reception celebrating the “Chemo Characters” exhibit will take place on Friday, Oct. 4 from 4 – 6 p.m. in the Edith Barrett Art Gallery, located in the Donahue Library Concourse.