We have both been doing work on body issues, Sylvia on breast cancer awareness in young women with “#bOObs” and Ted with scar acceptance through “Scarred for Life”. We met in Greece a couple of years ago and thought our work is a good match.

We have been collaborating with the Los Angeles Central Coast area branch of The American Cancer Society and the Making Strides LA event team. The ACS has been supporting us throughout the planning phase by helping us reach local breast cancer survivors who are interested in being a part of our work. They have connected us with a medical expert who will say a few words at the opening reception about breast cancer and early detection, as well as her own experience with the disease.

American Cancer Society representatives will be present at the opening reception on Saturday, October 12th, 2019, to provide relevant informative literature and to answer any questions that may arise.

The American Cancer Society’s presence in Greece is limited. If I’m not mistaken, they have received some grants from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation in the past.

Sylvia: The current healthcare system is designed to provide women who are 40 years old and older with information and access to regular mammograms. Unfortunately, the fact that women in their 20s and 30s are being diagnosed with breast cancer and the lack of information on the BRCA gene mutation, on dense breast tissue and alternative screening methods, in combination with doctors often saying “it’s probably nothing, you’re too young for breast cancer” is sometimes costing them their lives.
When we speak about breast cancer awareness, we need to go deeper than just the 1 in 8 statistic. Knowledge sharing through photography sessions, exhibitions and community building via social media is an alternative way for vital information to reach more people.

Ted: I was born with a genetic illness and I have been in and out of the medical system my entire life. In my mid 40s a new treatment was developed that took away a lot of the symptoms of my illness and after years of doing art about myself and my illness it seemed like the right time to focus on other people’s illness and their stories. I decided to use people’s scar narratives as the focus of my ongoing series. I have been doing the scar print work for 20 years now.

Caught your attention, didn’t it? It’s definitely not literal, as in fact, my work is not so much about boobs per se, as it is about chests and their diversity. In order to truly know our own body, love and accept it, we must first realize that there is no generic “normal”. There are no two boobs alike and there are female chests with saggy, perky, “cross-eyed” breasts, one breast or no breasts and all that is OK.

The “#bOObs” social health initiative is bold and attention-grabbing. Men and women alike need to know that what’s over our ribcage is not a Victoria’s Secret ad and that cancer isn’t always a lump.

In fact, we have 
two men in the exhibition, both of whom felt their inclusion was an important step in educating other men that breast cancer is a possibility for them.

Sylvia: The attitude towards breasts and covering them up has changed in the past decades, becoming more conservative as we regress into the future. “#bOObs” is in many ways fighting the social norm. Instead of using allusions and euphemisms for cancer and breasts, we tell the whole story – no censorship, no retouching, no filters. Exposing yourself both physically and emotionally gives you a surprising amount of empowerment.

Ted: “Scarred for Life” started out as an art project but now it’s a big documentation project and it’s hard to keep politics out of it. The art itself is not overtly political, but because a lot of the focus is on the narrative, sometimes in people’s stories, the health care system comes up, if they couldn’t pay for treatment, or had to wait for treatment.

Absolutely, in fact the main target audience of our work is young women. As mentioned previously, we need to raise awareness precisely on the fact that women under the age of 40 are developing breast cancer and have limited resources when faced with it. The issue spans into the medical community, where doctors send women away for being “too young for breast cancer”. It’s essential that the diagnosis happens as early as possible so that the treatment can be as non-invasive as possible, and with a higher survival rate.

I truly hope that when younger people look at our work, they come one step closer to discovering their bodies and learning how to take better care of themselves.

Sylvia: I am already able to see the difference in the response of the people who have reached out to us in order to participate in the project. There is also a big difference in the level of self acceptance when it comes to the new image of the body after surgery, where Americans are more open about their new reality. Also,  in the USA people are a lot more open about their cancer diagnosis and there is more community spirit, whereas in Greece people tend to hide their diagnosis even from friends and family, and there are only a few organized support groups targeted to breast cancer fighters and survivors. For all these reasons, I believe that an American audience is more likely to understand the work they are seeing.

Ted: It never occurred to me that people participating in this would want to maintain their anonymity. This is a large part of Sylvia’s work, where people want to be part of her work, but only as long as their identity is not revealed. In the 20 years I have been doing my scar prints, women have asked me to not show their breasts in the photos, but I don’t think that anyone has asked me to remain anonymous.