Image by Nikki Hartmann
Local artist and beloved South Australian art teacher Stephanie Blanchard is hosting a moving art exhibition this November, celebrating her most important pieces from throughout her career.
Called ‘Stephanie’s Dollie’s’, the exhibition offers a personal introspection into one woman’s experience with cancer.
For the past three decades, Stephanie has lived with breast cancer. Over this period, she has used art as a means of processing her experience. Stephanie has used many different mediums throughout her career, but in recent years found a love for sculpture. This love of sculpture shines through in the exhibition.
“It is a deeply personal exhibition for my mum, she has been working on this particular series of pieces for seven or eight years. She has lived with cancer for three decades, she’s a breast cancer survivor three times over. She uses art to process her experiences, and that is what is shown in the exhibition,” shared Stephanie’s daughter, Lauren.
Featured in the exhibition is a collection of playful, powerful, intricate and moving sculptures, affectionately known as dollies. Each of the dollies is an expression of different aspects of Stephanie’s cancer journey.
In early 2024, Stephanie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. This exhibition celebrates her final and most significant works.
“She has wanted to put on this exhibition for years, unfortunately this year she was diagnosed for a fourth time, with brain cancer. Her life expectancy is very limited.”
Featured in the exhibition are thirteen sculptures, each representing a different part of Stephanie’s journey with cancer.
“The thirteenth sculpture is unfinished. She was working on a piece when she was diagnosed and worked on it as long as she could, but her health deteriorated to the point where she couldn’t complete it.”
The exhibition opening will be held on November 9th from 1:00pm to 3:00pm at the Mezz Gallery in the beautiful Mezzanine 55, a studio, exhibition and workshop collective space in Kent Town. Tickets for the opening are free, but registration is required if you plan to attend.
Following on from the opening, the exhibition will be open daily from 11:00am until 4:00pm on November 9th through to November 17th.
“I really encourage people to check out the exhibition from the 10th to the 17th. The work is powerful but playful, intense and emotional. I really would encourage anyone who has experienced cancer to see my mum’s expression of it in art form.
It’s her most important work and for her to know that people have come along and experienced it means the world to her.”
Stephanie’s Dollies
Where: 55 Rundle St, Kent Town SA 5067
When: November 9th to November 17th
For more information, click here.
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