The emotional geography of cancer across four works
Out of the participatory process that was the Quásares project, four works have emerged which explore the experience of cancer through different languages and approaches.
The artist Adela Angulo (adelapordiosxd) has created a series of 60 illustrations developed alongside patients and healthcare staff, which aim to de-dramatise illness to discuss cancer with humour, irony, and tenderness.
«Quásares, las ilustraciones» is a series drawn by Adelaxdios. Created in collaboration with oncology patients and healthcare professionals to explore, through humour and de-dramatisation, some of the emotions experienced during cancer treatment. The project aims to represent this “emotional geography” with humour that is respectful towards patients, but also critical of the social taboos and stigma surrounding the illness.
From multiple co-creation sessions over more than a year with healthcare professionals and patients, Adela has developed a series of sixty illustrations divided into five different blocks: 1. Initial impact, 2. Inside, 3. Outside, 4. Afterwards, 5. Balancing act. These illustrations cover themes that are sometimes left out of the hegemonic representation of cancer: the body or sex, but also the way patients cope with the illness: fear, uncertainty, but also hopes and desires.
In this series of illustrations, there is tenderness, affection, and a gentle touch. But there is also a great deal of bite and incisive humour to open up conversations about still underrepresented topics. It will soon be published as a book featuring the illustrations.
Andrea Morán has created a sound documentary and a sound archive compiled from patient testimonies and in collaboration with oncology healthcare staff.
A sound file
A sound archive organised by emotions, themes, and people. Within the archive, you will find 50 short audio recordings, each linked to an emotion or theme: there is fear and uncertainty, but also strength and hope; there is the body where all physical changes resonate and, alongside it, the capacity for transformation and spirituality – not necessarily religious.
Living with cancer
Living with cancer It is a sound documentary made up of five instalments. The series explores the experience of cancer from the initial impact of the diagnosis to the period after treatment, addressing fear, the difficulty of naming the illness, physical and emotional changes, the relationship with one's own body and how others perceive it, the uncertainty of check-ups, and the feeling that the medical end doesn't always coincide with a life closure. Through different voices, the episodes explore how the illness transforms identity, priorities, and relationships, and they conclude by focusing on “quasars”, the people who accompany and illuminate the process, from family, friends, and partners to healthcare professionals.
The aim of this sound project is to broaden the representation of what a cancer patient feels, because that experience is often presented as unique and closed off.
Rocío Mesa and Jorge Castrillo (Naino) have directed a short documentary developed from a screenplay co-written with cancer patients. The work gathers personal experiences and focuses on the objects, spaces, and relationships that mark the illness process.
‘Quásares’ is a short film by Rocío Mesa and Jorge Castrillo, from the production company Naino, created in close collaboration with a group of oncology patients who participated in a co-creation process.
Shot on 16mm film with a Bolex 16H SB camera, a small, manual, and unobtrusive tool, the piece was constructed from very brief takes with no possibility of reviewing the footage during filming.
This technical decision allowed us to work with a minimal team and create a space for care, listening, and intimacy.
The result is a work that combines exuberant visual poetry with a tender and sincere look at vulnerability and fragility, understanding them not as mere weakness, but as a way of experiencing illness in common.
Óscar Romero has co-created a photographic essay born from working sessions with patients. Through instant cameras, each participant has constructed their own visual narrative, accompanied by portraits taken by Romero of the caregivers, the project's «quasars».
«Quasars, the Photographic Essay» is a project by Óscar Romero, created in collaboration with cancer patients. The project stems from a simple yet powerful idea: to portray the places, moments, and people that offer support and comfort during illness. Thanks to the collaboration with Fujifilm, each patient received an instant camera to photograph their healing spaces or moments, turning the photographic gaze into a tool for care and memory.
Óscar, in turn, created portraits of each patient's “quasars” – those individuals who illuminate and accompany the process, such as family members, friends, or healthcare professionals. The result is a diptych in the form of a dialogue between the artist's gaze and that of the patients, between culture and health, tenderness and shared memory.
As Óscar himself says, photographs are printed memories that we can keep to preserve what is worth remembering. This photographic essay is precisely that: a shared memory about the bonds that sustain us when we need them most.
Concomitentes 