TEXT VERSION:
Exhibit offers 'Healing' insight
By Sue Manning
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES -- Scars blemish their fragile bakcs as the brother and sister embrace their parents, showing in a single portrait how the two children got through more than 30 surgeries between them.
Another portrait shows the daughter without ears as her mother pulls the girl's hair back.
"I have a difficulty with her being born without ears. I need to see this image so I can heal in my heart." Debbie Groves told photographer Linnea Lenkus.
The two photos are among 35 portraits Lenkus is displaying to raise money for a Long Beach children's hospital clinic and raise awareness about families with special needs children.
As she took the photo called "Scars of Healing," Lenkus said she realized how powerful the project was.
The exhibit, called "Healing" will be held Friday at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach. On Oct. 10, another showing in Long Beach will be sponsored by Phantom Galleries L.A.
Thirty-five photos, all 30 inches by 40 inches, will be on display, showing 17 families dealing with all sorts of behavioral disorders, from autism to cerebral palsy.
A 12-by-12 inch book of the photos will be sold for $90 at the exhibits and online.
Profits from sales will go to Steel Magnolias, the fundraising group for the Stramski Children's Center in Long Beach.
The clinic survives on this kind of money, explained Dr. Gary Feldman, a pediatrician and medical director of the outpatient center.
"A lot of these kids are terribly misunderstood," he said. I don't think the idea is to provoke pity but to provide understanding.
At the hospital's gala, participants usually donate about $15,000 for the Stramski Center. This year, Feldman opened that portion of the program with a video of Lenkus' photos. They collected more than $50,000.
Ross Davis, 31, has four children. His youngest, 2-month-old son Rory, is scheduled for an operation next month for a cleft palate. He will have at least five surgeries before he turns 6, Davis said in a telephone interview.
Davis, a union iron worker from Downey, said he didn't know if he should allow his son's photo to be used. His fiancee encouraged him to do it "and it has been a blessing. It's a chance for people to hear what goes on in our lives when we have a disabled child."
