The UC Davis Cancer Center is co-sponsoring the Sacramento showing of an art exhibit titled Body Image-Body Essence, a sculptor's response to his wife's ovarian cancer diagnosis.

The exhibit's West Coast debut is planned in the Library Annex Gallery at California State University, Sacramento, from March 24 through April 27. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, with admission free and open to the public.

The sculptor, John Magnan of Massachusetts, already has presented the exhibit at a dozen venues, including the National Museum of Health and Medicine.

The Sacramento showing is under the auspices of the UC Davis Cancer Center's Sacramento State Partnership to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities Through Education, Research and Training, and the Sacramento Division of the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition.

The exhibit is the centerpiece of a monthlong series of activities to focus attention on the "cancer that whispers." Ovarian cancer will kill an estimated 1,650 California women this year, according to a cancer center news release.

"This art exhibit provides powerful visual symbols that will help us break the silence, and, with the other educational activities we have developed, spark a public dialogue that will, ultimately, save lives," said Marlene von Friederichs-Fitzwater, director of the Outreach Research and Education Program at the UC Davis Cancer Center.

Awareness activities include an Evening with Experts community forum, co-sponsored by the American Cancer Society and set to take place April 26 at the UC Davis Cancer Center, and a two-day conference for health care providers sponsored by the UC Davis Office of Continuing Medical Education.

MORE INFORMATION

Ovarian cancer awareness activities: www.sacstate-ucdcc.com, or call Toni Poppe, (916) 734-5786

Ovarian cancer and its early warning signs: www.ovarian.org

Body Image-Body Essence: www.bodyimage-bodyessence.com