Ventulett Gallery
Artist Alisha Morgan Unveils 20+ Paintings Celebrating Survival and Light. This year marks an extraordinary milestone for artist Alisha Morgan — twenty years cancer-free after surviving a rare and aggressive small cell carcinoma of the cervix. To honor this journey, she presents Refuse to Fade: Defiance and Color, a series of 20 large-scale floral paintings, each representing a year of survival. Diagnosed on August 18, 2005, at twenty-six and told she would not live beyond 2006, Morgan’s response was clear: No. I refuse to fade. This spirit of defiance and the vibrancy of life reclaimed are at the heart of her new work.
Each painting in the series places a vivid, realistic bloom against a deep black background — a visual metaphor for joy, resilience, and hope shining through darkness. “These flowers are not just paintings — they are survivors,” says Morgan. “They hold the weight of the dark years, but they burn with color, because I refused to let that light go out.” The exhibition will also feature an artist talk exploring resilience, creativity, and the transformative power of survival.
About the Artist
Alisha Morgan is an Atlanta-based painter whose work explores the balance of darkness and light through realism and abstraction. A self-taught artist, she began painting after years of working in glass, metal, and tattooing. Her art is held in private collections and has been exhibited across the Southeast. Refuse to Fade: Defiance and Color is her most personal and ambitious body of work to date.