Thedra Cullar-Ledford gave a tour of her powerful exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Museum to VAA members on September 7th, 2016.
The exhibit was organized by Bill Arning and the work chosen spanned two decades. The majority of it, however, was inspired by the double mastectomy she endured in 2013 as a result of breast cancer. She found herself being told by a male dominated medical establishment that she needed to reconstruct herself if she were to be whole again. The consensus from her doctors seemed to be that if you don’t want to then you are crazy. This is despite the fact that reconstruction requires more surgeries and pain and can end up hiding any cancer that may return. She disagreed and went on to find a community of like-minded breast cancer activists.
Thedra is an open book and does not hold back when telling her story. This willingness to share has led her to connect with women all over who have been through or are currently going through the same thing.
