Portraits of Breast Cancer Survivors

“Grace” is a series of portraits of women who have experienced Mastectomy Surgery in order to survive Breast Cancer.

It is a project that speaks about the strength and beauty that women who have survived Breast Cancer possess. It is an exploration into the grace through which they embody.

"Grace" is a continuation of my ongoing exploration into women, body image and our perception of beauty within contemporary culture.

In photographing the project, I loosely use Hellenistic sculpture as a visual reference for the portraits, taking inspiration from such artifacts as the “Venus De Milo” and “Nike of Samathrace”. These dismembered artifacts have survived the trauma of history and are still valued as objects of beauty within our culture.

My subjects, the survivors of their own history and of the trauma of breast cancer have also lost body parts. Given this visual index allows both subject and viewer to access a place of acceptance and beauty.

-Charise Isis