'Journey' Exhibit at Center Place Motivates Artist Battling Cancer

Diamari Christensen's journey through life and in art hasn't been easy.

As the 40-year old native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, prepares to conclude her first art exhibit in the United States, on display in December at the in Brandon, she is hopeful for the future.

Despite her battles with cervical cancer, a weakened immune system and health complications that linger from a pregnancy that threatened her life nearly a decade ago, Christensen is looking forward to the future and what it holds for her painting career.

"I have never done anything like an exhibit here in the United States," she said of "Journey," on display in the Mook Gallery through Dec. 31. "This opportunity to work with Center Place has really been like a door opening for me because I have a show here, and it's allowed me to meet new people and get into the arts scene here."

Her days as a painter stretch back to her life as a little girl in Puerto Rico. Her intent to become a serious artist blossomed with her studies at the University of Puerto Rico, where she started out studying architecture.

A disdain for mathematics led her toward public relations, but eventually she grew tired of that, too. That's when Christensen chose to pursue a life in art and earned her bachelor's degree in the field.

"I always wanted to do anything with art, even in high school I would get into drama or whatever had anything to do with art," Christensen said. "But I never studied art or really got serious about it until college, and now I have been painting for more than 20 years. I look back and a lot of it comes from my dad, because he showed me a lot of things."

Christensen Finds Successes, Struggles

Christensen moved to Valrico in 1995, where she met her husband, Jose Ramos. She continued to paint and was successful with a Puerto Rican audience. She eventually had a daughter, Nydian, and four years later, in 2002, she was pregnant again with her second daughter, Natalia. This time, though, she would have to make some difficult choices.

"I got really sick during my second pregnancy," Christensen said. "I was in the hospital 14 times, had my gall bladder removed, got meningitis and I almost lost the baby. They wanted me to choose between the baby and me because they had to feed me through a tube. I decided I wanted to keep the baby, and thankfully she came out healthy."

Christensen's suffering didn't end there. After the pregnancy, she learned that her immune system was significantly suppressed, and she eventually began to experience stomach bleeding. She went to several different doctors, but it wasn't until two years ago that a doctor determined she had cervical cancer.

She has undergone radiation treatment, but the complications that her body has experienced over the years have left her struggling to this day to paint and maintain her life.

"I had to stop painting for a while, but I'm now getting a little more strength to start painting again, and I'm thankful for that," Christensen said. "Faith has given me a lot of strength. The timing of the exhibit at Center Place has really been a blessing because I've been going through all of this, and just as I get back to being able to paint I have this to motivate me."

Her Center Place "Journey" exhibit is the result of visions and dreams that Christensen has experienced over the past few years.

"It's really a beautiful show," said Dawn Galia, the center's executive director. "She has been through so much, and you can see it come through her work in this exhibit. She has a wide variety of pieces, in all different canvas sizes, but some of them are very big and beautiful. It's been a great exhibit for us to have."