Cancer may have claimed the use of Jacolby Satterwhite?s right arm, but it left something in its wake ? a drive to create.
As the grand prizewinner of the juried competition Driven, Satterwhite recently won $20,000 and a priceless opportunity to show his work at the Smithsonian Institution?s S. Dillon Ripley Center.
To paint, the senior at Maryland Institute College of Art holds his right arm with his left arm, he explained. “I can move my hand, but can?t move parts of my arm.”
He cried when he learned he won Driven. “It happened the week my grandmother died. It must have been her. I?ve had recognition, but not like this.”
Jurors selected Satterwhite?s oil on canvas, “Remission & Resilience,” from 200 hopefuls. The brightly colored narrative is on display beside works from 14 other artists with disabilities.
At age 11, doctors told Satterwhite he had austeogenic sarcoma and would lose the use of his arm.
He continued to draw to keep his mind off his diagnosis. “But I didn?t think I would be a painter [after the surgery,]” he said. “I thought my work wouldn?t be as tight and refined.”
Cancer struck Satterwhite for the second time when he was 17, claiming part of his lung.
Satterwhite?s decision to create large-scale paintings proves his ambitious nature, said Soula Antoniou, president of VSA arts, the nonprofit organization presenting the exhibit with Volkswagen of America.
“When you see Jacolby?s work, you realize just how talented he is, and how complex and compelling his work is,” Antoniou said.
