Art show Brushes With Cancer returns to Chicago to celebrate survivorship
When Jenna Benn Shersher was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer at age 29, she found herself in a world of clinical data and isolating silence. She says there were fewer than 300 cases of gray zone lymphoma like hers in the United States, and the only information she could find was a sparse Wikipedia page.
Refusing to let statistics tell her story, the former Chicagoan got “loud.”
“It’s not like I went into this looking to start an organization,” she says. “I was really looking just to figure out how to stay alive, quite honestly — and occupied.”
She started a personal blog to update her family. That blog transformed over time into a global movement. And 15 years later, the organization she founded, Twist Out Cancer, is returning to its Chicago roots for the Brushes With Cancer Winter 2026 Art Exhibition and Celebration.
The event takes place Saturday, March 14, at 7 p.m. at Wildman BT in Chicago. It marks a homecoming for the nonprofit, which began in the city before expanding its reach to more than 280,000 people globally, according to the organization.
The exhibit demonstrates how a lonely diagnosis can evolve into connection and community.
Brushes With Cancer strategically pairs professional artists with “inspirations” — individuals touched by cancer. For the past five months, 27 pairs from 13 states and three countries have worked together to translate the trauma and triumph of a cancer journey into fine art.
Seeing one’s life through another’s lens can be therapeutic, Shersher says. “When you look in the mirror, you see what you think is your reflection. But someone else is seeing something completely different.”
Participating artist Jacqueline Carmody calls the structure intentional and powerful.
She first joined the program in 2013, fresh out of graduate school and newly credentialed as an art therapist, looking to explore how creativity intersects with healthcare. Cancer had long been part of her life. “Ever since I was 6, family members had been diagnosed,” Carmody says. “This organization really spoke to me.”
Carmody has participated as an artist in multiple exhibitions and now serves as director of the organization’s Twistshops program — art-therapy-based workshops, often developed in partnership with hospitals. She leads a team of art therapists who run art-therapy-based programs for cancer survivors, patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and others.
In Brushes With Cancer, Carmody says the artist-inspiration pair meets over several months by video call or in person. Through conversation, the inspiration’s story unfolds.
“It’s just getting to know them as a human being,” Carmody says of those early conversations. “Not really focusing on the cancer experience.” She asks about hobbies, daily life, and shared interests. The diagnosis enters gradually. “It’s never the main character of who they are,” she says. “It’s always just a detail in their life.”
As themes emerged in Carmody’s meetings with her inspiration, she took notes and gave the imagery space to take shape.
“I use the art as a container for their story,” she says. “I just listen, honestly.”
Some inspirations choose to wait until the exhibition to see the final piece. Others opt for an earlier reveal. Carmody recently shared her completed work with her match during a virtual unveiling.
“It was fun to show her the pieces,” she says. “She was really excited.”
Carmody hopes viewers see the person beyond the diagnosis. “I hope that they are able to see [my Inspiration] as the human who has a story to share,” she says. “Yes, she has had cancer. But that is just part of her story. It’s not the main event.”
Chicago broadcast journalist Anthony Ponce will emcee the event, which blends art viewing, storytelling, and community connection. All 27 works will be auctioned, with proceeds supporting future programming.
“A lot of our funding comes from Brushes With Cancer,” Shersher says. “Each program [helps] fund the next one.”
The nonprofit has evolved significantly. In its early years, it relied on large, gala-style fundraisers drawing 600 to 700 people. After Covid-19 forced the organization to go online, it reassessed.
“We saw the power of connection in the virtual space,” Shersher says. During lockdown, many people, regardless of diagnosis, felt vulnerable and isolated. “All of us were feeling like patients.”
Today, Twist Out Cancer operates in a hybrid model. Large galas have given way, by design, to smaller gatherings of 200 to 300 people. The organization runs four Brushes With Cancer programs annually and about 100 Twistshops. Virtual options allow immunocompromised patients to participate from home.
While Shersher now lives in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, with her husband and two daughters, Chicago remains central to the mission, with strong hospital partnerships and a deep donor base. Learn more about the event at twistoutcancer.org.
