Susan B. Markisz

In this photograph, photojournalist Susan B. Markisz positions her hands on her bare chest, her elbows pointing outwards. Her expression is calm but hard to read. Beneath her splayed fingers, the faint scar of her mastectomy is visible. Markisz made this work to document her experience with breast cancer. As she explains,

Shortly after my diagnosis, I began to work on a series of self-portraits to document the emotional ramifications of the disease. Feeling the surge of adrenaline, I set out to show the world that “Hey look at me, I beat the disease and there’s a world full of beauty beyond breast cancer.” When I printed the pictures, it was like seeing myself for the first time. I didn’t see the “world full of beauty” part, only something very real which had changed my world, and lots of anger.

–Conor Moynihan, assistant curator of prints, drawings, and photographs