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Produced & Maintained by Idaho Mountain Express, Box 1013, Ketchum, ID 83340-1013 
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Copyright © 2002 Express Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 


For the week of Oct 30 - Nov 5, 2002

Arts and Entertainment

‘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."

 

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The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.