By SABRINA BERNDT

Washington Daily News

A new exhibit at a downtown Washington gallery is packed with powerful statements about disease and the environment.

Maria Modlin’s “Living With My Insides, Out” exhibit has found a temporary home at the Contemporary Art Exchange. Born in Washington, Modlin creates clothing pieces representing diseases that have affected those around her, as well as environmental issues.

“She’s just fascinating, and obviously, she has a deep connection to these,” said Tina Jandrow, the owner of the gallery. “Everything she seems to do is so purposeful, which I love.”

Modlin’s exhibit features dresses — which are hung on medical IV poles — portraying diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, varicose veins and breast and cervical cancer. The dresses often use imagery from the actual cell and medical supplies as symbols.

“My sister has type 1 diabetes,” Modlin said. “She was constantly moving around, struggling to find coverage for her medication and supplies. She saved her testing strips for me, which I wove into the shawl and also put a couple on the dress.”

The exhibit also includes two dresses picturing the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of 2011.

“We’ve known the risk of nuclear power for a long time,” Modlin said. “It is a wonderful clean energy, but it does represent a darker side of clean energy. Back in 2015, they realized it (Fukushima) was still leaking — that nothing they have done was able to stop it.”

The dresses almost serve as public service announcements, according to Jandrow, and they are each accompanied by a document that gives the viewer context about the topic.

“With the cervical cancer one, it’s interesting because a lot of the people I’ve spoken with have no idea that cervical cancer is so strongly related to STDs,” Jandrow said. “A lot of women don’t know that heart disease is so closely related to cigarettes and that it feels like indigestion.”

When Modlin isn’t creating, she works at Wellington B. Gray Gallery at East Carolina University and teaches at Pitt and Nash community colleges.

Modlin’s reception, which will have live models wearing the dresses and additional pieces not included in the typical exhibit, will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.