The series of photographs in the untitled piece are tightly focused on one woman as she battles cancer. From the very beginning, the piece captures the attention of the audience by jumping straight into the photographs and allowing the images to create a name for themselves instead of confining them by a title. Each picture highlights her smiling face amidst the confusion and pain surrounding her, and in each photo her smile is slightly different. The piece transitions from a blurry New Years Eve photo, to a series of photos throughout chemotherapy, and finally to a clear New Years Eve photo exactly one year later, contributing to the theme that you never know just how much can change over the course of a year. All of the pictures aside from the last are tightly cropped around the woman, ignoring the medical equipment and overlooking her large amount of supporters in order to force the audience to look directly in the eyes of a cancer patient. This is an impressive stylistic choice because most people are conditioned not to look too long at someone who is sick or disabled, and this removes all other distractions from her until the last photo when she no longer looks sick and there’s nothing to be distracted from. As her journey unfolds through the series of photographs, displayed on a white canvas, the viewer becomes increasingly inclined to seek out the face of the woman to further understand her story.

The first photograph depicts a husband and wife sitting closely together on New Years Eve. The background is dark and sparse and the husband seems cheerful while the wife has her arms crossed and her smile is seemingly more forced. Her body language suggests discomfort and her eyes seem sad in contrast to her husbands, but the most symbolic and notable part of the image is its clarity. The image is extremely blurry, which at first could almost be disregarded as poor camera work, but upon closer inspection it visualizes the confusion, shock, and fear the woman felt as she prepared for her fight against cancer.

The second photograph immediately transitions into a clinical area, where the woman is surrounded by blankets, books, coffee, and laughter as she works up the courage to undergo her first treatment. Her eyebrows are slightly raised to suggest how apprehensive she is about this upcoming battle, but her body language suggests that she is not willing to back down from the fight. This photo is significantly clearer and brighter than the previous because at this point the woman finally has a plan of action, and she knows that this is a war she can win.

The following two photographs show two major milestones in her treatment, the first being the new wig, as she just started losing her hair, and the second being the full effects of chemotherapy. She is only ever shown wearing long sleeves, because even in the middle of summer she is too cold to do otherwise, and her skin is significantly paler and more discolored. In the third photo her husbands silhouette is reflected above her as he takes her picture. As a woman, losing her hair and her femininity was one of the hardest steps in the process of her recovery, and her husband being there to look over her and affirm her beauty, gave her the ability to smile a little brighter that day.

In the fifth photograph, she is taking a selfie of her treatment. The number of treatments have surpassed the number of fingers on her hands so she opted for a ‘thumbs up’ instead to symbolize that things were finally looking up. In this image its clear that she has lost all of her hair, but is no longer insecure about being a cancer patient. This is the first photograph she is seen in without her wearing a wig or a jacket, and the only photo in the series that she has taken of herself. The significance of her ‘selfie’ is to show just how confident and empowered she has become though her journey, her eyes are brighter and she seems infinitely stronger than in the previous photo. The vibrancy of the red head scarf adds to this air of confidence because it calls more attention to her than a dark head covering would. She has finally embraced her recovery and the cards she has been dealt.

The final two photos show her hair growing back, and are the first photos outside of the hospital since the opening image. The first of the two is presumably taken on her birthday and she is gleaming surrounded by pink roses and wearing a pink jacket. She looks incredibly healthy and happy in comparison to all previous photographs, and the pink symbolizes her support for breast cancer survivors such as herself. She is proud to have almost completely conquered her illness, and even though she has many more scans and radiation treatments to face, she is confident in knowing she is cancer free. This is also the first image where one can see her hair growing back. In the final image the audience is brought back to New Years Eve, and her primary support structure is revealed; her family. Her husband is wearing the exact same outfit from the year before and remains with the same joyful disposition, her children are closer together and everyone has an authentic smile on their face because this is truly a time to celebrate.

The untitled photo series depicts the journey of a woman over the course of a year. In every photograph she is significantly changed on the outside which allows the audience to presume the incredible changes being made on the inside. With the overall theme of the piece being change and journey the audience can further appreciate the strides they have made in his/her own life.