“Held By The Moon’s Gaze” by Cierra Rowe

In August of 2023, we released our fourth Open Call: How might we reimagine healing and transformation with cancer through poetry, art, letters, and stories? The following is an art submission we received from this open call.

“I painted ‘Held by the Moon’s Gaze’ 3 days before my uncle passed away from cancer. If you had told me then that I would be standing over my uncle while he lay in a casket 4 days later, I wouldn’t have believed you. I wouldn’t have believed anyone. We didn’t know that he was sick. We didn’t know how bad it was. That was this July. It’s been nearly 4 months since that happened and I am still navigating this very new and very strange ‘normal’. ‘Held by the Moon’s Gaze’ is about hope. It’s looking up at the sky and holding on to that inner-light, the thing that you hold tightest on the days that test your strength the most. I had hope and my uncle still passed away. I was angry and a part of me still is but I can look up at the moon and stars and colors and know deep down that he isn’t suffering anymore and that his love is still around and never left. Art captures pain and turns it into love, to me atleast and that is what I have been trying to do since this happened; turn pain into love. It matters because my uncle matters. What he and many other beloved people endured matters. Art, especially when it is shared, can really be a useful crutch for those instances of not knowing where to begin in the healing process. It helps you to attempt to understand.”

Cierra Rowe