Charise Isis

The Grace Project is a series of empowering and transformative portraits that reveal the courage, beauty and grace of those who have had mastectomy surgery as a result of breast cancer.

Highly sensitive collaborations between myself and my subjects, the images reveal the collateral damage and both the inner and outer scars that remain after breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.

The brave act of standing naked in front of a camera to reveal their scars allows each subject to step toward self acceptance, a transformative opportunity to share the story that has been written on their body.

The portraits are loosely inspired by Hellenistic goddess sculptures, those that have survived the trauma of history, such as the Venus de Milo. Although broken, these cracked and scarred relics are celebrated as beautiful, their brokenness revealing the delicate nature of life, endurance, resilience and the inherent beauty that still radiates.

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