These are the words of artist and environmentalist Nathalie Latham who in the face of physical and emotional devastation, found refuge in art and her faith. Now 16 years cancer free, Nathalie chronicled her seven-year journey through radiation treatment and PTSD in the recently-published visual memoir, I Am Alive – Creating Resilience and Healing Trauma Through Art. The 184-page book of story and art depicts the healing journey that returned Nathalie to her life.
“Up until that moment (of diagnosis), I had been under the delusion that I maintained a certain control of my life,” she says. “It was a life that was rich in friendships, work and travel. But I was also trapped by my perfectionism.” Many of her writings are featured in her Substack.
Then Nathalie says, “my life pivoted.” She was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer. The man she thought would be her partner through all life’s challenges also was no longer there. “The life I had built collapsed leaving me to grapple with the stark reality of the illness and the painful truth I was on my own.”
Cancer: A New Journey of Prayer and Pastels
The night before radiation began, she found herself alone in the brachytherapy radiation room filled with terror for the pending treatment. Unable to find language to write about her experience, she reached into her bag of art supplies which she brought to treatment and began to draw all her fears. For the following seven days and nights as she was radiated, she continued to draw while lying on her back. “The act of drawing was a focus point for me, a way to not lose my mind. I continued to draw after treatment as I struggled with PTSD and depression.” Every mark made is proof as Nathalie describes, “I am alive.”
A decade later, the oil pastels have grown into a collection she describes as, “a prayer for the observer and for the world.”
After treatment, Nathalie found her way to Tamil Nadu, in rural South India at the temple of her spiritual teacher where she began the slow work of healing—and where she continued to draw as lifeline and as a way to unravel a complex emotional landscape in order to heal. She continues to live there today.
“I knew it was the right place to heal but I was in grief of having had to give up ‘my life’ in Paris… and my work as a photographer/ film maker. I yearned for all I had lost: my vitality, my health, my joy, my strength, my courage, my ease of navigating life, my sexual being, my sense of humor... I was worn out.” Everything. Absolutely everything felt hard. Each day was a struggle. And I didn’t know if I was ever going to get better. “
That Was Then. This is Now.
Born in Australia, Nathalie's teen years were marked by visits to France where her mother lived. After earning her Masters in Japanese from Sydney University at 22, she moved to Paris, embarking on a career that would take her across continents.
A polyglot and accomplished photographer, Nathalie lived the life of an internationally acclaimed artist and filmmaker. Her work appeared in Le Monde 2, Domus, and The Australian Financial Review. She spent five years traveling the world for her project Love It & Leave It: Australia's Creative Diaspora, photographing and interviewing expatriate artists from Paris to Berlin, which culminated in a celebrated 2007 solo exhibition at the Australian National Portrait Gallery. She produced and directed documentaries for Arte, BBC, and Mezzo earned prestigious residencies including Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin (2007-2008) and received the Best Portfolio Award at the Art Photo Biennale in Bucharest (2005).
When Healing Becomes Action
But healing, she discovered, wasn't just personal—it was planetary. As Nathalie tended to her own recovery, she began tending to the earth itself. At the Sri Narayani Peedam campus where she lives, Nathalie is a committed environmentalist and supporter of women’s empowerment. The campus is part of Sripuram, the Golden Temple which is the main temple. The forestry work is one part of the temple’s larger onsite programs The complex includes two schools, a hospital and a feeding program that offers free meals to 5,000 people daily.
A committed environmentalist and supporter of women’s empowerment. Nathalie plays a key role in a wide range of philanthropic initiatives, including Green Sakthi, a leading afforestation program in Tamil Nadu (India) where she lives. Sakthi (pronounced shakti) is a Sanskrit word that means feminine energy or power. Twenty-five years ago, she says, the land had no trees. Now more than two million trees have been planted or donated locally to farmers and villagers.
There, in the same soil where she returned to life, Nathalie now plants trees, and as Director of Programs for Green Sakthi, the temple’s environmental program helps model the journey for others seeking to connect to their souls.
“Trees saved my life,” she says. “I’m so privileged to hang out in nature every day and am profoundly grateful to Mother Nature.”
The work, she says, is both metaphor and matter: roots going down, branches reaching up, life insisting on itself. What began as personal survival has become something larger—a practice of regeneration that refuses to separate the healing of a body from the healing of a landscape. Her hands, which once held cameras and then pastels, now hold seedlings. Each one planted is another way of saying: I am alive. We are alive.
“This book isn't just about my journey; it's about reaching out to others facing their own struggles,” says Nathalie. “I want to offer a sense of solidarity and hope, reminding people they aren't alone and that healing is possible, even when it feels out of reach. For those caring for someone with a serious illness or working in the medical field, these pages offer insight into the long-term realities of recovery beyond the clinical charts and hospital visits. My story shows that no matter how dark the journey may become, finding light, reclaiming joy, and rediscovering the will to live fully again is possible.”
Learn more about Nathalie at her website.
Narrative Mindworks Questionnaire
1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Feeling well rested and having time to create.
2. Which living person do you most admire?
My spiritual teacher, Sri Sakthi Amma.
3. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Staying alive after cancer treatment.
4. Who are your favorite writers?
Mary Oliver
Rainer Maria Rilke
Lou Andreas Solomé
Albert Camus
5. Describe yourself in six words.
Creative. Resilient. Loving. Sensitive. Courageous. Humorous.
6. What are you most grateful for?
Being alive.
7. What’s next on your bucket list?
I don't have a bucket list, but I would like to visit Bhutan this year.
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