Aaron Hartzell

Image © Aaron Hartzell

Artist Statement

And Then The Clouds Began to Gather

These images are part of a group of work exploring the psychological and spiritual journey that comes with a serious health diagnosis. In December 2022 I was diagnosed with an advance form of cancer. Like a soft rain, at first you can almost deny it's happening. However as the rain continued to come down it became clear that a storm had come. This dramatic shift through me into another world, one that was off just enough to know I was no longer in the reality I knew, my reality.

This realization brought with it many battlefields. There is the physical - where in the case of cancer your own cells act as a foreign power against you. There is the treatment, which involves a strange world of chemical warfare, radiation, and mind numbingly complex billing systems. And then there is the psychological and spiritual battle. This is perhaps the more profound and meaningful journey that comes with such a diagnosis.

I came to realize that my life was more ethereal than I once thought. In this space a darkness descends upon you and remains. But here in this darkness one can find a most profound, meaningful and brilliant light that's shines itself upon you. A light that can encompass the darkness.

Aaron Hartzell | Tacoma, WA