‘Turning Heads’
addresses effects of cancer treatments
By Dana
DuGan
Express Staff Writer
Women who
are faced with treatment for cancer often have the same reaction: They
dread loosing their hair. A woman’s hair may be very much part of her
self-image and losing it may affect confidence and self-esteem.
Rod
Koleno spins cancer patient, Beth Bryan as Hillary Maybery takes her
photograph at the Warms Springs Lodge for a new book. The author,
Jackson Hunsicker, far right, watches along with Bryan’s daughter
Julia Couch. Express photo by Dana DuGan
Jackson
Hunsicker, a screenwriter and director from California as well as a
cancer survivor, decided to create something beautiful and hopeful out
of that experience.
Her book,
"Turning Heads"—which will be published later this year—features
women being treated for cancer and who have lost their hair. The photos
are all taken with the women in their natural state, no wigs, scarves or
turbans.
The
photos, many taken by well-known photographers, are accompanied by
personal essays about the experience. Hunsicker wants society to
"reevaluate the way we look at people."
While she
was vacationing in Idaho, Hunsicker contacted Sandy White, an oncology
nurse in Twin Falls, to find some of her models. She was put in touch
with Sun Valley resident Suzanne Mulenos, a cancer survivor who works
with cancer patients on recovery therapy.
"I
was unsure when Jackie approached me, I didn’t want it to be
morbid," Mulenos said.
Satisfied
with her intent, Mulenos suggested Hunsicker talk to Beth Bryan, a
75-year-old Ketchum woman who was near the end of her treatment.
For Bryan’s
shoot, her daughter, Julia Couch, accompanied her to Warm Springs Lodge
during the recent Swing ‘n’ Dixie Jamboree. Bryan was attired in a
white flapper dress, her hair just beginning to grow back. Rod Koleno, a
festival volunteer,l partnered her on the dance floor as Hillary Maybery
snapped away.
Couch
said Hunsicker is creating "an amazing, wonderfully inspiring
book."
In
addition to Maybery, Wood River Valley photographers who donated their
time on the project are David Stoecklein, Thia Konig, Kirsten Shultz and
Kevin Syms. Local make-up artists also worked gratis, including Eddieann
Thompson, Noelle Hodge and Jennifer Jacoby Rush.
Hollywood
photographer Harry Langdon and New York photographer Harvey Stein both
contributed their time to photograph women for the book.
Hunsicker
said proceeds from the book will go to the American Breast Cancer
Society.
"Oncologists
should have this in their offices," Mulenos said, while watching
Bryan spin around on the dance floor. "To survive you have to
fight. Sometimes people have a need to leave the world a better place,
and Jackie is evidence of that idea."