Matriot.

• Author: Adler, Frances Payne
• Position: Poem

Poet Frances Payne Adler and photographer Kira Corser built the exhibit A Matriot's Dream: Health Care for All around the lives of some of the thirty-seven million people in the United States who have no health insurance. The voices of families and individuals the artists got to know are captured in the images and poems, which also explore the meaning of the terms "patriot" and "matriot" and the idea of national defense. The two artists came up with the concept for the exhibit in part because of Corser's experience coping with ovarian cancer while uninsured. As a free-lance photographer, Corser could not afford treatment and had to rely on friends to help pay her medical bills and save her life.

Adler's experience as a former emergency-room nurse from Canada also informs the exhibit. "I was appalled when I first came to this country," she says. "Health care is a right, not a privilege."

Adler and Corser have collaborated for ten years. Several other photography-poetry exhibitions - including When the Bough Breaks: Pregnancy and the Legacy of Addiction, Struggle to be Born (about lack of access to prenatal care), and Home Street Home (about homelessness) - have appeared in galleries, universities, and state capitols throughout the country, as well as the U.S. Senate. A Matriot's Dream opened in the California capitol in Sacramento and has shown in galleries throughout the state.

Plans for a national tour are under way. Adler teaches creative writing and art for social change at the University of Wisconsin in La Crosse. Corser is an independent photographer working out of her studio in Carmel, California. For more information on the exhibit call (408)659-4774.

Matriot

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