Performer Rose Hill turns her battle with cancer into artistic expression

Tisch Library might not be the place where one would expect to find an exposition on cancer, or a personal art show for that matter. But a Tufts student recently brought the dangerous disease to the forefront. On Wednesday, Oct 8, Junior Rose Hill presented her performance art piece entitled "Brief: A Military History of My War on Cancer."

Hill, who is a member of the combined degree program with Tufts and the Museum of Fine Arts, began her one-woman show alone and straight-faced, wearing a camouflage hat with army-green clothes. During her half-hour performance, she told the history of her battle with cancer. She played the part of a commander describing her "troops" in their fight against the enemy -- cancer.

During the performance, she addressed the experience of her six-year battle with cancer using military terminology. As she stood next to a blown-up picture of a body, sectioned off as if it were a map of enemy territory replete with lines of latitude and longitude, she chronologically mapped out her "three conflicts." She related the cancerous cells' location and the ways in which they were "dealt with" through medical treatments as "military combat."

Despite twice thinking that she had overcome her cancer, Hill is currently in her third battle. Her performance was inspiring and impressive, as she took her pain and turned it into an artistic expression that should provide hope for other people who battle cancer, or suffer any kind of illness.

Hill says that her inspiration for this piece was that she "always struggled with the terminology around cancer." Using military expressions "gives people a language to distance them from the physicality" of cancer. She related this to be the reason why military commanders use such broad terminology when describing touchy situations. Instead of saying ten thousand people were injured today, they will say that there were some casualties.

At the end of the performance, there was a question and answer session. When asked what advice she would give to other cancer sufferers in a similar situation, Hill stated that one should "utilize whatever technology and resources are available at the time. Make the best decisions [one] can. An aggressive approach is often the best way."

Her firm approach to dealing with cancer, and her constant optimism were inspirational. She deals not only with the daily pressures of college life, but of having to worry about her health constantly.

After the show, student Angelica Lundquist stated that she thought that Rose's approach to talking about cancer was a "different way to talk" about it. She said that the performance was "pretty impressive. Lots of questions were able to be asked because of the terminology that Rose Hill used to talk about cancer." She found Hill to be "very brave."

Hill's battle may be ongoing, but her performance at Tisch helped to communicate the struggle that victims of cancer must go every day. With the help of her performance skills and her courage in voicing her experiences, perhaps the Tufts community will be made a little more aware of the ongoing battle survivors wage against this deadly disease.