Elaine Whitman
About the artist:
Elaine has been taking photographs since she was nine years old when her father, an internist and talented amateur photographer, gave her a Brownie box camera. She has worked her way through many cameras since that time and now relies on a pocket-sized Canon “point-and-shoot” and a Nikon D7000. (This image was taken with the Nikon.) In addition to her passion for photography, Elaine is also a music volunteer for hospice, where she plays her Native American flute for patients and their families.
About the artwork:
“On the eighth anniversary of my diagnosis of stage IIb breast cancer, and on our thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, my husband Neal and I celebrated my remission and our marriage with a cruise up Alaska’s Inside Passage. In Juneau, hiking on the Trail of Time, our guide pointed out devil’s club, whose leaves can grow as large as dinner plates. Devil’s club is used medicinally and ceremonially by the Tlingit people of southeast Alaska, who refer to it as ‘Tlingit aspirin’.”
Visuals editor:
Justin Sanders
1 thought on “Tlingit Aspirin”
Brilliant photo. I once practiced in Southeast Alaska, where – as in life – it is often the rain that brings out the color.