Henna is used as decorative body art, but to Jeena Kar, it is a way to heal people.
Kar, 21, makes her own organic henna to create designs for patients going through cancer treatments.
The UF religion senior drives to Orlando to share her artwork with patients at a private practice.
“I really felt like, for the first time, I found a way for me to give meaning to my art,” she said.
Kar said her Indian roots have played an important part in her integration of henna and medical treatment.
At the private practice in Orlando, she has painted henna for about 20 patients on their arms and created crowns on their heads free of charge for women who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy.
Kar said she wanted to emphasize that bald is beautiful by applying the henna to increase women patients’ self-esteem.
“(Women) really lose their dignity when they lose their hair. It’s such a big part of who we are, so I started the henna crowns,” she said.
Kar has painted crowns for two women, one of whom is a close friend of Dr. Mary Rockwood Lane, an associate professor in the UF College of Nursing.
Lane said her friend was excited when she heard about Kar’s henna designs.
“She’s able to have this beautiful painting on her head, and she is able to maintain her incredible beauty,” Lane said.
Kar said a patient told her she felt confident and beautiful for the first time since losing her hair after receiving a crown.
“When I finished it, I walked her to the mirror, and when she saw it, she said, ‘This is beautiful. I feel beautiful,’ and she started crying, and I started crying,” she said.
Kar said she plans on continuing to paint henna on patients and hopes hospitals adopt this type of art therapy.
She has reached out to UF Health Shands Hospital but is unable to apply henna to patients because it requires direct contact and causes liability issues.
Some doctors are excited about her art, and others view it as pointless for patients’ care, Kar said.
“There is this difference between Eastern and Western medicine,” she said.
Kar said she wants to practice complementary medicine and plans on obtaining a graduate certificate in arts and medicine at UF.
“It’s one of those moments where you feel like, yeah, this is what I want to do with my life.”
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 12/3/2014]
UF religion senior Jeena Kar, 21, paints henna on a woman’s head during a cancer support group session at a private medical practice in Orlando.
