I just wanted to bring my ‘Unseen & Unheard’ secondary breast cancer photography project back into your mind as I am currently applying for a grant to help me and am starting to plan my first shoots.
I have had a number of volunteers for the projects and as we are all far flung I thought I would send out another appeal for volunteers on the basis that if I am travelling to North Wales or to Manchestrer to photograph one person then I could be photographing a few others around and about.
For those of you that missed my initial mail, this is a copy of it:
I’m Angee and am a 39 year old photographer living with secondary breast cancer. Since being diagnosed last October I have been amazed by the amount of people who comment on how well I look or that I don’t look like I have cancer. This lead me to wonder what people’s idea actually is of someone who has cancer and what they should look like. I guess during my primary diagnosis in 2004 I fitted the bill because I lost my hair but this time I have no ‘obvious’ signs of cancer to those on the outside.
I came to the conclusion that even in the 21st Century when 1 in 3 people are affected by cancer, there is still a huge myth and / or misconception about the illness and its effects. As a photographer I started to think about a photographic project of people living with cancer. I suppose what I would really like to do is challenge peoples misconceptions and raise awareness of the number of people walking around getting on with everyday life with cancer.
Would anyone like to volunteer to be part of my project? My idea would be to visit you and photograph you in your own environment and then put together a portfolio of work for an exhibition. I photograph using natural light so there would be no need for lights and umbrellas and turning your home environment into a studio for the morning/afternoon! I am not looking for photos of scars just a portrait of you and what you look like. I am a working portrait photographer but probably not allowed to leave my website details here but if anyone contacts me then I will privately forward my web address for you to check out that I am genuine!
If anyone is interested to join what looks like a very exciting project then please send a reply and I will respond by private message to you with my contact details.
hi i would be very pleased to take part in your project,its very true that people only see the outer signs of cancer such as head scarfs etc but do not realise that somepeople do not always carry a sign ! i live near bristol. lynn x
Hi Angee,
I have BC and C in my lymph glands under arm and neck.People are always coming up to me and saying how fantastic I look and how well I am managing the Chemo.I take these comments as a compliment but people really don’t know how I am feeling as I just can’t be bothered reeling off a list of complaints and side effects!
I would be glad to help your project.I am in Liverpool.
Good luck,
Alli.
Hi There… sounds interesting. I was diagnosed with secondaries in November last year, still looking and feeling well much to everyone’s amazement. I sometimes stand in busy places and want to shout out… ‘I bet you wouldn’t guess I have cancer!’
34 years old and wanting to prove a point… very interested.
Lou x
Hi like you Lou I feel like that especially when you get old women pushing their way through and knocking you. Feel like taking my wig off and shout at them IV GOT CANCER
Angee - I live in Preston and would love to contribute. I went into work yesterday and was told I look really well. We are all told this aren’t we as people expect us to look awful but we make an effort when we go out of the house. I had my last chemo in November 2007 and starting to grow eyelashes and eyebrows and hair coming back but grey. I had mastectomy with immediate reconstruction using back muscle.
I’d be interested in taking part I’m 28 and from Liverpool…People think I lye in bed all day, that I’ve lost my sense of humour, my intellegence and my personality. I feel like shouting it’s still me!!!
Hi to Kte281, lizzie52 and Allicat (and any other Northerners)
I’m just outside of Manchester. Seeing as Angee would have to travel miles to see us all, I was wondering if we could all meet her in one place, to save her travelling round? Depending on what type of picture an surrounding you would like to be in, I am sure we can sort out a place where we are all accommodated?
I have offered to travel down to London to meet up (I have family there) but I know not everyone can travel that far…
What do you think? I know that meeting in Manchester would be easy for me, and there is a wealth of different surroundings for a variety of backdrops for pictures (parks, urban landscape, shopping etc) but I am willing to travel further afield if needed…
Interesting project. I am a 34 yo with BCRA1, bald and having (fingers crossed) last chemo this Tuesday. Despite baldness and general feeling of urghness, I find myself having to tell people that my hair is not a fashion or feminist statement much to their surprise. I too have been told I don’t look like I have cancer (nor does my mum who is also having chemo at the mo).
I would be happy to take part. I live in Hastings but can get to London easily. If I am surplus to requirements, i would love to see the finished project.
Thanks to all the people that have joined in the project in recent days and for all the lovely ladies waiting patiently for this project to start but you know how it is when you have CANCER… the body plays up and ends up trailing slowly behind what the mind would like to be doing…
Just a little bit of background for those that don’t know me… I have secondaries in my bones and recently had my second vertebroplasty which is where they inject a cement like substance into the vertebra to reinforce it. The vertebroplasty went well but I have had a CSF leak as a result and it will take a while to get over as the longer I stand upright, from what I can gather, the more fluid leaks so I need to lay down. My consultant has likened it to a slow puncture which will heal itself in time. I guess I am not the most patient of people but will need to be patient and wait for the body to heal itself but I am so desperate to start the project, let people know its underway.
Thanks to you all for your lovely postings, emails and wishes. I am so committed and dedicated to this project and the ladies that have so kindly volunteered. I have been overwhelmed by the support and enthusiam of everyone. The fact that so many of you feel the same as I do makes me feel proud that I have tapped into a common feeling. And I am so pleased I am not the only one being overtaken and knocked and budged by old ladies whilst out shopping.
Anyway… I will stop rambling… I just wanted to let you all know that I am here, still ready and willing but waiting for my body to catch up. I am not online as much as usual but I will answer your emails and postings in time but just struggling a bit to keep up at the moment but KEEP THEM COMING! I’ll get there eventually.
Thanks, poannie for suggesting a communal meet - that’s really helpful. Got to get you whilst hair still pink!
KatherineM, jools, melba, doing ok… thanks for your continued support and interest in the project.
Of course, I was being flippant in response to someone elses comments not deliberately disrespectful.
As someone who is almost six feet tall who has marched through life at high speed (tho not treading on others I hasten to add!) it has come as a shock to me to be parking in disabled bays, getting out and walking at snails pace and being overtaken by those that this time last year appeared more infirm than I. I think for some of us, humour (which may not always be appreciated by others, granted) is a coping mechanism.
Can I still not interest you in taking part in the project, Jane? Would love for you to join us… please… pretty please?
My remark was tongue in cheek too! I got hissed at by a younger woman in a supermarket recently when I stepped in front of her dithering self to pick up some kiwi fruit…maybe she had cancer too.