Art Show: CJ vs. Cancer
Location: Brooke Evans Gallery (Cultural Arts Center)
Christina Jami Alvarado returns to Rockland Community College for RCC’s Unity for Community event on May 4th with CJ vs Cancer, an awareness exhibit featuring her digital portrait series created throughout her cancer journey. A former RCC student, Christina credits the college’s art department with helping shape the trajectory of her life. More than 20 years later, she returns not as a student, but as a woman shaped by lived experience—carrying a message of hardship, resilience, transformation, and truth.
Before her diagnosis, Christina built a career as a producer and production manager, traveling the country and leading large-scale productions for major global brands. She was living her dream, earning a six-figure salary WITH health benefits and thriving in a fast-paced industry she loved. Then, everything shifted. In her late 30s, after a dramatic decline in her health, Christina spent two years seeking answers—only to be dismissed, misdiagnosed, and overlooked. By the time a visible lump led to further testing, the cancer had already progressed to Stage 4, spreading to her bones, alongside a separate Stage 1 colon cancer diagnosis.
The aftermath was life-altering: the loss of her career, financial stability, and independence—replaced by ongoing treatment and an often invisible disability. Now two years into living with an incurable disease, Christina continues to navigate the reality that returning to her former life has not yet been possible. Her last production credit was the 2024 Met Gala. But through all of it—loss, uncertainty, and upheaval—art remained.
This exhibit is not just a reflection of survival, but a call to action: advocate for your health, advocate for your life, and always advocate for the arts.