Dave Webb


the grateful chair

Dave Webb writes: "In 2014, Melinda Welsh — the founding editor of the Sacramento News & Review and my spouse of 40 years — was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer, one that attacked her salivary glands. The diagnosis progressed to terminal in 2015. Following a novel treatment at UC San Francisco that included immunotherapy (the “Jimmy Carter” drug), she was declared cancer-free in 2018.

"Hers is an amazing story. Following a series of essays on the subject for the Los Angeles Times, Melinda went on to write “The Big Sick” for Sactown magazine, a cover story that won a prestigious Folio Award in 2019; there was a 7-minute segment about Melinda’s cancer battle on the PBS NewsHour.

"My response, beyond handsprings and tears, has been to make art. For the last 13 years I’ve worked as an iPhone artist; before that, I was a professional musician and songwriter; I have three novels under my belt. I fused the three disciplines into an art form I call slidesongs; the grateful chair is my third such work. Part love note, part meditation on mortality and part unsolicited advice, the grateful chair is a six-minute multimedia work composed of 151 iPhone images, music and text. As metaphor, as witness, as a point of view that fluctuates between aspiration and despair, the grateful chair considers how, of all the different chairs we each occupy over the years, none will be as misunderstood as the grateful chair."

 
 

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