Berenice Badillo was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 2023, She had been selected as an artist ​for Far South/Border North, a City of San Diego-led regional collaborative that supports artists and cultural practitioners working in service of the health and well-being of communities in San Diego and Imperial counties. Badillo’s campaign focused on breast cancer and the health disparities that impact survival rates of women of color as well as the impact COVID-19 had on the delay of diagnosis, care, and treatment.

 

The objective is to shed light and discuss these health disparities as well as the stigma, lack and lag of resources, misdiagnosis, and the psychological impact of being diagnosed with breast cancer as a woman of color. Through multimedia platforms, the campaign helps to inform targeted California Healthy Places Index communities of cancer risks, the need for mammograms, and advocating for more preventive care.

 

The first phase of the campaign focuses on documenting the artist’s cancer journey through the creation of personal art making. Within this process, the documentation and research of art therapy interventions for cancer patients, as well as other methods of alleviating symptoms of depression and anxiety, include meditation, biofeedback, guided imagery, and journaling. A Tik Tock channel, art show, documentary, poetry book and this website documented topics that include psychological reactions and processes of having breast cancer, encouraging discussions, and providing resources from a lived experience. It also follows Badillo’s work on a mural for Chicano Park which was restored while she had Cancer with her team XoQUE art in motion and is now the tallest mural in the park done by women, for women about women.