Dana Liebermann Brooklyn, New York Award of Excellence $2,000 Age 23

"Change is a matter of time and I strive to change my connection to illness by means of art. In these photographs I battle with a dark cloud that hides in my mind and in my memory. And in the time and space of these photographs I have changed my real life existence. I regained the pleasure and fulfillment of making art; the thing that makes me special. I am once again an artist."

Dana Liebermann was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, a form of cancer concerning the lymphatic system, at the age of sixteen. While in college, she felt an extreme desire to talk about her illness though images. A survivor now in remission, she had physically overcome the disease, but felt as though she had died. This marked the period in which she began to refer to her illness in a visual medium, attempting to discover the connection between the mental and physical states of being. "This was a pivotal moment for me. I began to investigate what it means to be an artist, and I took an interest in self portraits." Liebermann's series of photographs explores the idea that animals and objects can represent people. She states, "I struggle to understand and change my relationship to an illness that will never go away."