“A longtime Oro Valley friend and artist, Linda, was diagnosed [with breast cancer] in about 2009, along with her sister within six months. Having been through prostatectomy, I could easily relate to the emotions of cancer diagnosis and big body modifications to survive,” explains Gay. “Both sisters chose mastectomy with reconstruction, both successful, and both had made plaster casts of their torsos before surgery. Linda got the idea of a breast cancer gallery show, and made a number of casts from both molds. She distributed them to about a dozen artist friends ‘to do something visually interesting’.”

   

For the show, Gay filled out the plaster cast’s rib cage with a curving back that received a photo collage of wildly diverse imagery—“stuff that might be in anyone’s head”. It is illuminated by a concealed light inside, when her hinged left breast is opened. She sits on a four-foot high plywood base with a cord for the light.

   

Gay is happy to deliver in the Tucson area, or The Green Lady can be picked up in Patagonia, where he lives.