Written by: Mercedes Dubberly, Marketing Intern
When Sarah Camele was a little girl, she had a dollhouse so big that she recalls being able to crawl inside and sleep in it. The dollhouse, made for her by her father, was four feet long and three feet tall with a full attic. It was so spacious that if she wanted to, she could shut the door and not be found for hours.
It is this feeling of peacefulness in solitude that creating art has always brought her.
Camele, originally from Edgefield, S.C., has been crafting her whole life, growing a childhood love into a passion for knitting, an enthusiasm for embroidery, a spirit for sewing, and a mind for many other mediums.
As for a favorite form of crafting, she said, “It just depends on how I’m feeling that day. Do I need something repetitive? Do I need something to get me out of my head and solve problems and that sort of thing? And it just depends on what I need that day.”
When Camele first visited the S.C. State Fair in 1998 as a 27-year-old, she saw the arts and crafts on display and knew she had to enter her own work.
However, it wasn’t until a few weeks ago, 27 years later, that she finally submitted her work for competition.
What brought her back after all these years? The first-hand experience that life is too short to let opportunities pass by.
In August of 2023, Camele was diagnosed with lung cancer and told that one of her lungs had to be removed almost immediately. Two years prior, a doctor had noted she had nodules on her left lung, and by 2023, they had grown a few centimeters — a dangerous amount.
“I told myself, ‘No, you’re not going to let another year go by without doing this,’” Camele said. “Time is the only thing you cannot get back. You can get your health back, you can get the money back, but you cannot get your time back. Whatever you waste in life, don’t let it be your time.”
While recovering from surgery in the weeks following her diagnosis, Camele worked on regaining muscle and movement in her body. One of the ways she did this was by crocheting and making other art.
“Crochet was a repetitive thing that soothed me afterwards. It helped me get my strength back and heal,” she said.
She crocheted colorful flowers, made parts for her childhood dollhouse — which she still has today — and painted nature scenes and old pets from memory.
Today, Camele is cancer-free, and her artwork will be displayed at this year’s South Carolina State Fair, which runs Oct. 8-19 in Columbia.
Camele recalls how, in spite of all the darkness she had experienced, there was still something in her that was searching for light. The part of her prevailed through her art. When recovering from surgery, Camele wasn’t strong enough the get up and move around on her own. Her crafting gave her a way to occupy her time and shifted her thoughts to something more positive.
“My dad talked a long time ago about how somewhere, no matter what happens to you, there is a place deep inside you that remains untouched, and that’s the part you feed. Even though you can’t point to it, you feed it.
“So that’s what I did. That’s what I decided to do, that I was going to keep any thought of dying or it coming back or anything at bay for as long as I possibly could, and focus on making some kind of mark that somebody’s going to remember,” Camele said.
Crafting gave her a community, purpose, and a way to heal. For anyone struggling, Camele has this advice: “You can’t let any kind of adversity just keep you down. You just gotta get up, no matter what. If you can still get on your feet, get up. Get up and paint or whatever. Just continue your life, even if your work is your art. Whatever your passion in life is, that’s what you gotta do.”
You can see Camele’s work on display this Oct. 8-19 at the South Carolina State Fair. To enter your own, visit https://www.scstatefair.org/competitions/.
