Fashioning Cancer: The Correlation between Destruction and Beauty

Gown photos from CNN

Ever wonder what cancer looked like under the microscope? Maybe. Ever wonder what cancer looked like on the runway? Probably not. Now that you actually may be wondering, Assistant Professor Jacqueline Firkins in the Department of Theatre and Film from the University of British Columbia-Vancouver has provided us with a glimpse of what that may look like. 

Assistant Professor Jacqueline Firkins

The gowns are described as "disturbingly beautiful considering it is something so deadly".

Astrocytes in the brain work to keep neurons healthy. Green dye outlines the cells' cytoskeleton, while the red dye highlights specific membrane channels. The blue dye shows the cell nuclei. Watching the structural changes that cells undergo help scientists better understand cancer.

When they are cancerous, astrocytes from the brain become gliomas. These cells are stained to show off their cytoskeleton, which determines the cells' shape and affects their ability to move. More movement among cancerous cells indicates a more destructive form of cancer.

Astrocytes, or glial cells in the brain, grow in a culture dish. The blue areas are nuclei that contain DNA, while the green areas are gap junctions -- tubes that connect and allow adjacent cells to communicate. Gap junctions help regulate normal cell growth; interference in these communication channels can lead to cancer development.

This slide shows an injured brain filled with dying neurons (stained green). During cancer progression, cancerous cells kill nearby healthy cells so they can keep growing and spreading.

This image depicts small intestine tissue — the blue color shows the cell nuclei (DNA) and green color is localized to membrane channels called pannexins. Membrane channels like these contribute to the microenvironment that can either enhance or inhibit cancer progression.

In this microscopic view, cancer cells of a brain tumor (red) metastasize, invading normal brain tissue (blue and green). The cellular images that inspired the fashions come from the lab of University of British Columbia scientist Christian Naus.

A brain tumor, represented by the black area, grows in a culture dish. During metastasis, cancer cells break away from the primary tumor to spread to other areas of the brain and into the body either through the bloodstream or lymphatic system.

Brain cancer cells show the interaction, represented by yellow areas, between gap junctions (green) and cell growth factor (red). The interactions between these two proteins play a critical role in transforming normal cells into cancerous ones. 

The purpose for her project is to to inspire deeper conversations about disease for women. Firkins aims to encourage dialogue about cancer, beauty, and body image by designing and exhibiting 10 ball gowns inspired by microscopic photos of cancer cells and cellular systems.

 People hardly have any idea of how many variations of cancerous diseases exist. Firkins found a creative way to expose the topic and encourage us to see the traits that describe the woman undergoing treatment. She states, "My hope is that somehow through fashion, I more closely tap into what a woman might be feeling about her body as she undergoes the disease, but simultaneously reflect a strength, beauty and resilience. 

Read more at UBC- Fashioning Cancer



Video Provided by Canadian Press and Justin Smallbridge

This is great example of finding inspiration anywhere and seeing potential in unexpected things.