Remembering Michele

Michele Petrone died in May 2007, at the age of 43. He had lived with cancer since 1994, and painted his experiences of illness in a series of exhibitions starting with the Emotional Cancer Journey, which became a catalyst to inspire many to express their feelings of living and working with life-threatening illness.

Since Michele’s death, the MAP Foundation has received many letters and emails in tribute to Michele’s life and achievements as an exceptional artist, an inspiring teacher, a wonderful friend and for the warmth, humour, light and hope he brought into other people’s journeys of illness. 

You can download the tribute given by Margaret Felton, Trustee of MAP Foundation and close friend, at Michele’s funeral in Microsoft Word format.
download

Follow the links to read some of the published obituaries about Michele.

The Guardian
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/obituary/0,,2096289,00.html

The Lancet (registration is required although this is free)
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673607609994/fulltext

The Ham & High
http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/search/hamhigh/?searchparam=Michele%20Petrone

Macmillan Cancer Support
http://share.macmillan.org.uk/Share/Forums/?topic=1000615

 

Extracts from some of the tributes paid by friends and colleagues who met to celebrate Michele Petrone's life at Regents’ College on October 18.

From Gillie Bolton

Michele

Rainbow of insight,
Soul-bird of courage,
Wren’s trill of laughter,
Heart-hug for living
With dying.

From Lesley Fallowfield

“I count myself fortunate that Michele and I enjoyed a mutually satisfying and productive professional relationship as well as a loving personal friendship. In so many ways we could not have been more different - Michele with his wonderful, crazy, spontaneous, creative but chaotic lifestyle and exuberant, exhausting personality, in contrast to my rather more subdued, ordered and structured scientific outlook……….Nevertheless, as time went on we discovered that we were kindred spirits with similar passions for great food, for good wine, for music, laughter and love………..the vibrant colours and broad brush-strokes that were characteristic of his paintings, were also characteristic of the way Michele painted his own life……

“Importantly, we also shared an all-consuming desire to make things better for patients and healthcare professionals; we found within each other, different perspectives and ways to look at life, health, illness and death……

“It is perhaps too easy to become engulfed in the pain of losing him and memorials such as this tonight are meant to be happy events, celebrating the triumphs not just the tragedies of Michele’s far too short a life.

“Happiness is none the less true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting.” (Bertrand Russell)
Ciao my friend.

From Amanda Stone

“I met Michele at his Charleston exhibition 18 years ago. It was love at first sight. We became close friends very quickly. As many of you know, Michele was charming, playful and a great flirt - with men and women……I knew him before his illness, diagnosis and treatment and saw how his passion for life and his work was intensified by his illness. He searched for meaning and new ways to express his feelings and his physical and emotional pain. We talked endlessly about the need to be in nature and nourish the soul with spirituality. We tried to live life to the full and to balance the dark moments with fun…….

“Whenever I want to feel close to Michele, I see a huge expanse of sky filled with twinkling stars, as he often painted and wrote about starry skies……

“I want to close my tribute to my special friend by reading a prayer poem from 13th century Persia -

“Sometimes nights stay up ‘til dawn as the moon sometimes does for the sun, be a full bucket, pulled up the dark, way of dark well then lifted out light, something opens our wings, something makes boredom and hurt disappear. Someone fills the cup in front of us, we taste only sacredness.”

From Catherine Tutton

“I have known Michele close to ten years. I have known him as a friend to many people. He had this amazing ability to make everybody feel special. Every friendship was different, special.

“At the end of 2005 I invited Michele to join me for a week in Venice. We had a wonderful experience which encompassed so many things that Michele loved about life: art; beauty; soul and food experiences…..”

“…….…He loved entertaining his friends. Of course there was food in abundance but there was also an abundance of pleasure in the way he would enjoy giving and looking after his guests. I particularly remember his laughter on these occasions.

“Another important part of his life was the workshops he ran and I am glad that I have run many with him. …..I remember the last workshop I ran with him in Liverpool. He was quite unwell but still wanted to do it. Afterwards we ended in my room at the hotel, laughing, talking and cleaning the palettes and brushes. It was very hard for him but he still wanted to be involved……..

“I have lost a good friend, who had many talents. I felt he was my soul friend. The world has lost a talented artist and an enabler for people to express their deepest feelings. We will never forget him.”

From Heather Allan

“…..When you finally get to touch the rainbow - you are in the rainbow. And the rainbow never ends.

“Tonight, we think and talk about Michele - the many ways she shared life with him - the intense friendships, the work; the way of being which was him. The joy of that. And - yes, the pain of it all. For we are here because, remembering him, we are sharing the loss of him, too. The exhibition, his last completed painting series, is Missing. And, as one of Michele’s great and challenging gifts was to present the whole truth, here we have it; we are missing him.

“The exhibition was first shown just over two years ago. He painted these images to express his experience of loss. In his introduction to
The Emotional Cancer Journey, Michele quotes from the Gospel of St Philip: ‘Truth did not come into the world naked, but it came in types and images….one must enter through the image into the truth.’

“And here it is. A roomful of images of a truth we know and can share: we are missing him. ‘In our society,’ Michele wrote ‘we are fearful about talking about loss and bereavement. But acknowledging how painful and difficult loss is, does help. It validates peoples’ feelings…..the MAP Foundation believes that by using the arts we can share these stories and emotions which allow us to express, communicate, understand help each other, in the difficult world of illness, dying and loss.’

“In the front cover of the sketchbooks he used to prepare ideas and sketches for this exhibition, is a favourite quote: ‘It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye……..’”

 

These words below from a couple of Michele’s professional colleagues reflect much of his impact.

 “Michele enabled people to break out from the limitation of language and express those feelings through a different medium. How much easier for some to paint whatever came from the heart…Thanks to his vision, creativity, and understanding of the process, countless individuals found meaning, peace, and resolution through their paintings, as well as having lots of fun. He reached out and touched us all and life will never be quite the same again.”
Dr Jo Shawcross, Palliative Care Consultant, St Wilfred’s Hospice

Through his art and his words Michele offered students and colleagues a unique insight into the lived experience of illness. He helped them to understand how important it is for doctors and nurses to bring their
humanity, as well as their knowledge and skills, to all of their interactions with patients. He gave them the courage to believe in themselves and renewed their sense of purpose and vocation. To be taught by Michele or to encounter his work was to be, quite simply, changed.
Dr Deborah Kirklin, Honorary Senior Lecturer in Medical Ethics and Humanities, Royal Free and University College Medical School

‘Gone but not forgotten…never forgotten.’  No Michele, we will not forget you. Your legacy is there to stay with us, your images will carry on supporting up, your paintings, always witnesses to what was happening in your life, will remain and with them we will carry on hearing your laughter, your fantastic sense of humour, your tears and your genuine interest and love of people.  You were a good friend to all of us in the cancer community. We will miss you dearly.
Catherine Tutton, Macmillan Cancer Support.