Now she has begun to use her art to push viewers into seeing the realities of another side of life.

Camp?s art took the new turn a little over a year ago, when her mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. According to Camp, her mother was brave, saying, "It?s one lobe. They?ll operate. There?s nothing to worry about.

But a previously undetected brain tumor prevented a quick recovery. Camp?s mother began treatments: rounds of chemotherapy, radiation five days a week, and surgery as the cancer spread. Over the last year, cancer has also been found in a few lymph nodes, as well as in her hip, and now her liver.

Since her mother?s diagnosis, Camp travels to New York every two months to be with her parents. She says the experience has opened her eyes to the disintegration of a life - in fact, an entire family. "I peer into my mother?s overflowing medicine cabinet, while she lies in bed and reassures me,Camp said. While she waits and hopes, Camp said she wonders every day when these isolated incidents that make up the illness will end.

Her abstract wall hanging, entitled Isolated Incident, acknowledges the cancer that looms large in the life of her mother. Camp said the work, made of hand-dyed cotton fabric, is one artist?s valiant attempt to make a difference for those facing the seemingly endless pain that racks the entire family, not just the patient. Fighting her mother?s disease the only way she knows how, Camp says she chose to use soft colors and intricate stitches to illustrate how small, isolated incidents can gradually and profoundly take life away from someone you love.

Camp is now at work on a second piece about her mother?s illness. For more information about her work, call (505) 474-7943, or write to Lauren Camp, 25 Theresa Lane, Santa Fe, NM 87505.