OncoLink - Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania

My experience with cancer has come mainly from my father, who is an oncologist. Examination No. 1 shows the face he shares with his patients, amid the cold, sterile technology of their treatment.

One of my strongest childhood memories was at age 5, when I was taken to the hospital to see my grandfather, who was dying of lung cancer. Over the years, I've thought about what must have been racing through my father's mind as he treated his father.

In Examination, the woman is the viewer of her own body -- a self-examination. The posture taken during a breast exam is strikingly similar to the classical poses of 18th and 19th century French painting.