November 16, 2021
Contact: Mary Katzke, Affinityfilms, (907) 250-6897
Think life during the COVID-19 pandemic has been hard? Imagine what it’s been like for Alaskans who have been fighting cancer. Add the terrifying experience of chemotherapy, radiation and being immune compromised during a pandemic to the list of other effects such as isolation, loneliness and lack of access to health care – yet many Alaskans have survived and thrived. Pandemic Portraits, an exhibit honoring Alaska women who have faced cancer during COVID is a new Affinityfilms, Inc. project, and can now be experienced at the Loussac Library-Atrium.
“We wanted to honor the women who have been doing ‘double duty’ – cancer treatment during the pandemic,” said Affinityfilms producer and director Mary Katzke. “It’s important to understand the experience these women have been through, and how courageous they’ve been against all odds.”
Pandemic Portraits includes a photo and an audio story of 16 Alaska women from across the state. Fifteen different photographers took the photos. Author Deb McKinney wrote two- to three-minute narratives about each woman’s story. By clicking on a QR code on each photo, you can listen to narrator Michelle Conklin read the stories, allowing for insight into the journey each woman faced.
The stories within Pandemic Portraits are as unique and heroic as the women profiled. Jacqui Gorlick of Anchorage faced cancer for the second time in 2019, but as she fought breast cancer, she was determined to be in the delivery room when her grandson was born. COVID protocols didn’t allow that to happen. Crystal Waterbury of Homer had to make fast decisions when she was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma. She shares her fears of going to work and being around other people while she was immune compromised. Vickie Panamarioff of Ouzinkie had to move to Anchorage to fight cancer that is not curable and had spread to her bones. She spent Christmas Eve of 2020 alone in the hospital’s COVID unit after getting a lung infection. She longed to return to her home on an island near Kodiak to just experience normal again. Desiree Rodriquez spent her 27thbirthday alone in a Seattle hotel while fighting her second bout with cancer. Yet she found simple joy in the people who sang happy birthday to her that day. Rodriguez is now thrilled with her decision to train a Goldendoodle as her service dog.
Pandemic Portraits will be on display, through the end of November at Loussac Library in Anchorage. Other Alaska communities interested in hosting the exhibit can contact Katzke to arrange for the exhibit to visit in 2022. There is no cost, other than covering shipping costs for one large box.
Pandemic Portraits is sponsored by the Alaska Run for Women and the Alaska State Council on the Arts.
Affinityfilms, Inc. is a nonprofit media production company formed in 1982. The company has a long history of coordinating projects around cancer. Others have included six documentary films on cancer, many public service announcements (PSAs), wellness calendars and a previous photo exhibit called “Alaskans in Pink,” which is permanently housed at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. To schedule the exhibit, or to learn more about Affinityfilms, go to www.affinityfilms.org.
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