In Praise of Melissa Anne Carroll's Self-Portraits

Even if Melissa Anne Carroll's self-portraits didn't hit you with the gut-punch of her cancer prognosis, they'd still be worth talking about. But the fact that the Brooklyn-based painter is recording the chemo drips, surgical masks, woolen skullcaps and heavy eyelids of the disease she's dealt with for the past two years makes these portraits incredibly, heartbreakingly urgent.

Her blog, paintingcancer.com, tracks her prognoses with detailed, diaristic entries along with the watercolor portraits. In an entry about the benefits of smoking pot, Carroll speaks about her struggles with nausea. Read on for a first-person view on chemo that might change your opinion on medical marajuana:

Before chemo I didn't understand how horrible nausea was. I am constantly sick to my stomach and puking all the time. I sleep with a barf bucket next to me and last year had to have a barf bag with me whenever i was in the car. I have thrown up on the street, in parking lots, in restaurants, at friend's and families houses, on myself. I have thrown up while crying because I cant stop throwing up. The worst is that, unlike vomiting after a hangover, vomiting from chemo just makes you feel worse. The nausea stays with you, and after feeling sick to my stomach with no relief for over a week at a time it starts to make you crazy.

More of her self-portraits are after the jump.