The SCAR Project is a series of large-scale

portraits A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better re ...

of young

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

survivors shot by

fashion photographer Fashion photography is a genre of photography that portrays clothing and other fashion items. This sometimes includes haute couture garments. It typically consists of a fashion photographer taking pictures of a dressed model in a photographic stu ...

David Jay.

Origins

Jay was inspired to begin shooting The Scar Project in 2005, when a friend was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 29. Since then, Jay has photographed over 100 young women ages 18–35 across the nation. A mission of The Scar Project is to raise

awareness In philosophy and psychology, awareness is the perception or knowledge of something. The concept is often synonymous with consciousness. However, one can be aware of something without being explicitly conscious of it, such as in the case of bli ...

of early-onset breast cancer, and to help young survivors see their experience through a fresh lens.

Themes

"Breast cancer is not a

pink ribbon The pink ribbon is an international symbol of breast cancer awareness. Pink ribbons, and the color pink in general, identify the wearer or promoter with the breast cancer brand and express moral support for people with breast cancer. Pink rib ...

" is a frequent message throughout The Scar Project. Jay states that "in our society, breast cancer is hidden behind a little pink ribbon that (unintentionally) diminishes something that is terrifying, disfiguring, deadly." Jay hopes that The Scar Project "presents an opportunity to open a dialogue about issues we are not necessarily comfortable with."

Scar Project women

Many women who have been the subjects of The Scar Project claim that their participation in the project represents a personal victory over fighting the disease. The Scar Project also gives voice to the lives of women who have since died fighting breast cancer. In one instance within the series, an empty black frame represents one woman who died days before her photograph was to be taken.

Publications and acknowledgments

*A book, ''The Scar Project: Breast Cancer Is Not A Pink Ribbon'', Volume 1, was published in 2011. It contains 50 portraits of young women surviving cancer, as well as an

autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

commentary from each subject. *''

Baring It All ''Baring It All'' is a documentary film about fashion photographer David Jay and The SCAR Project, a series of photographic portraits of young women in various stages of breast cancer and other hormonal cancers. Directed by filmmaker Patricia Zagar ...

'', a documentary film about David Jay and The Scar Project, was aired on the

Style Network Esquire Network was an American pay television network that was a 50/50 joint venture between NBCUniversal and the Hearst Corporation. Launched on October 1, 1998 as Style Network, a spin-off of E!, the channel initially consisted of fashion, ...

on July 9, 2011. Directed by

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

Patricia Zagarella of Lost in Vision Entertainment, ''Baring It All'' was screened at several

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent ...

s, including the

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Big Sky Documentary Film Festival is an annual non-fiction film festival held in Missoula, Montana each February. The event showcases documentary films from around the world. The festival first began in 2003 as a seven-day event. It is now a ten- ...

, and Breast Fest Film Festival in Toronto. In 2012, ''Baring It All'' received a

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NA ...

References

Photographic collections Breast cancer awareness Collaborative projects {{Photo-stub