THE TRANSFORMATION ZONE
“The Transformation Zone” explores the ambiguities that a person faces follow a diagnosis with the human papillomavirus (HPV).
A diagnosis of HPV often results in feelings of guilt and shame.
These feelings are commonly subjugated at women. There is currently only a test available for female genitalia.
These concrete and abstract layers of information are investigated using the heat-transfer process of disperse dying.
Sheer layers of achromatic patterns, chromatic shapes, and kinetic imagery are transmitted onto transparent fabric.
Uncertainty is suspended in beauty.
I drew textual descriptons from scientific writings on the virus, media coverage, and personal anecdotes.
I intend to share the complexities of this experience from contraction to implication.
When HPV enters the cervix, it can become cancerous along an opening called “the transformation zone.”
I hope this piece can be a transformation zone for feelings of guilt and shame
to swim with connection and universality in a virus that often goes overlooked and undertreated.
The text for each piece is listed as follows:
Sample 1: “An estimated 80 million Americans are currently infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV).Sample 2: “You do not have to have sex to contract HPV.”
Sample 3: “Most people with HPV have no symptoms, so they wouldn’t necessarily know to request testing for the virus.”
Sample 4: “...raising public awareness of the sexually trasmitted nature of HPV can increase women’s feelings of stigma, shame, and anxiety.”
Sample 5: “...when women learned HPV was common, it helped reduce those feelings by normalizing the infection.”
Sample 6: “The nurse called. There was something abnormal on my PAP smear.”
Sample 7: “She said the doctor would have to take a piece out of me.”
Sample 8: “My first male doctor. He did not say hello.”
Sample 9: “Metal clamps gaped me open. I heard the scissors.”
Sample 10: “I told you I was sorry over the phone.”
Sample 11: “You said you weren’t mad.”
Sample 12: “I caught you picking at them. You said you didn’t like the way they looked.”
Sample 13: “Did I desire to satisfy my own pleasure more than keep you safe?”
Sample 14: “The nurse called. I don’t have cancer.”