21/31 Dianna

A Photographic Essay on One Woman‘s Journey Through the Process of Breast Cancer Treatment and Recovery

This photo-documentary began as a knee jerk reaction to the experience of my friend Dianna Matherly with breast cancer. She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in her right breast in 1981, and in 1991 the cancer recurred in the same breast. To prevent the possibility of cancer in her other breast, she elected to have double mastectomy. Dianna soon contacted me and wanted to have her portrait taken before the mastectomy. When we came together to do this she began to let me know the details of what was happening in her life. She then told me that she was choosing not to have reconstructive surgery or implants after the mastectomy.

When Dianna wanted information on what she would look like after the operation, she was given several pamphlets containing stick figures with "X"s across the middle supposedly representing women without their breasts. No one photograph was available to show her what a woman who has undergone mastectomy would look like without reconstructive surgery.

It also seemed as if reconstructive surgery were implicitly the right option. In Diana’s case she decided to not undergo the lengthy and oftentimes painful breast reconstructive surgery but could not receive a decent image of her physical future.

So it began as a clinical documentation of Dianna’s operation. As we went further into the project it could not help but become more personal and emotional rather than a cold clinical project. Diana and myself began to receive powerful feedback from the community and that in turn gave Dianna great direction within her healing process.

I can say that for myself this project gave me the fine tuning I needed not only as a photographer but as a friend and a woman in a society which is now only beginning to see that this cancer is omnipresent.

My wish is to display the photographs in conjunction with Dianna’ s artwork in hopes of showing people that it is possible to survive and grow within the battle of breast cancer. I would like all pertinent medical and educational information to accompany this exhibit in the form of a discussion forum and video as well as a means of obtaining viewers’ feedback on the exhibit.

The images are of Dianna, capturing most of the critical phases of her struggle for survival. I hope that the photographs will provided the viewers with a positive sense of living in what seems like a no-win situation.