The Breast Portrait Project

Work in Progress, posted with permission from the artist, Clarity Haynes

Clarity Haynes emailed us to share her project, The Sunset Park Breast Portrait Project: a feminist portraiture project. It focuses on the torsos those who’ve had mastectomies as a result of cancer treatments.

As a figurative artist interested in paint and in portraiture, I appreciate the stories the body tells that, unlike those on the face, are usually not made public. Although the composition is the same, every torso portrait is different, and it is the process of discovering that difference, that unique beauty, that I find engaging.
The Breast Portrait Project began in 1998, when I began doing commissioned torso portraits in pastel, often at women’s festivals and retreats. After every portrait, I took a picture of the model with her portrait, and asked her to write something about her story and perspectives. Over time I have collected photographs and handwritten text from over 400 participants in a series of journals that have become “The Breast Portrait Books.”
I enjoy working with models with a range of body types and a variety of life experiences. Cancer survivors are just one group that has found participating in the project to be a positive and emotionally healing experience. I’m grateful for all of the interactions I’ve had through this work — I have learned from and been touched by the openness, courage and generosity of each model.

I think that sharing these folks experiences, and seeing the pride with which they display their bodies is a radical act. It never ceases to amaze me how little we see of the diversity of our bodies in the mainstream media.
They are beautiful.