RTL Public Prize 2014
I couldn’t understand why HER! Her, this tiny little woman, cheerful, courageous, always there for others. I realized at that particular moment that it doesn’t only happen to other people. I’m happy to see that she still has this energy so typical of her despite the disease. To remain a woman. One breast less. A soul wound. An attack on the flesh. New image. To reinvent her femininity. Dare to love herself. Take hereself by surprise and to fall in love with herself. Again and again.

For me, mom is a true warrior. She’s a fighter in her everyday life and has been even more so since it was announced that she had cancer. She even managed the feat of communicating her incredible energy to us. For me, she is comparable to an Amazon, these women of Greek mythology who, a breast amputated, hunted with bows and arrows, proud, beautiful, and courageous. This photo is a homage to the resolute battle of each of the women who experience this disease.

“It’s almost two years now that I’ve been ‘seeing life in pink’! Depending on the days, this pink is warm or cold, light or dark, bright or dull. I wanted this photo to be taken there where I regularly came to recharge my batteries during these past two years of a fight for life. I bought myself the underwear for my twenty-third birthday, accompanied by two girlfriends, after a morning spent in hospital. Love at first sight, aimed at showing off my new body! I dedicate this photo to those women and men who are delighted to still have me with them. I hope that it will also give hope to other people who are learning in turn to ‘see life in pink.’ Thanks to Joël, my photographer who joyfully accepted to grant me a little of his time.” – Charlotte

Marina Rey, a painter friend, discovered this competition. Suffering from breast cancer and after a mastectomy, it was an opportunity for her to bear witness while leaving me free to do as I wanted with the photo. I chose a mise-en-scène around painting, her work, with the complicity of one of my models, Emmanuelle Marti, a classical dancer who accepted to pose with much enthusiasm for this cause.
Two moments for the photo: a first image that Marina painted and then a reunion of the whole gang for a final photo session, where a good mood was obligatory!

A symbol of feminity and maternity, to my mind the breast is a source of life that must be protected and showcased. To illustrate this, I wished for a hatching of femininity in the infinite softness of a cocoon from which we exit in order to open ourselves up to the world, thereby recalling birth and the nourishing qualities of the breast. Without stigmatizing, my approach is to provoke an emotion in order to make the public aware of the importance of cancer screening and prevention.

One woman out of eight is affected by breast cancer, like my mother was.
This photo captures the moment of laughter that nevertheless hides pain. Participating in this competition is a message in order to tell her how much I love her, that I am there for her, and she can always count on me. This woman has incredible strength. She is the strongest woman I have ever encountered! She’s my mom and she fights so courageously a battle she didn’t choose.

When photos will no longer suffice, when your face will softly fade from our memories, when we’ll find it hard to recall your voice, there will remain, for afterwards and always, this extraordinary energy that you gave us. Each step costs us, but immobility makes us far more afraid. We struggle, we invent, we reinvent, we live.

Grand Jury Prize 2014
Clara, five and a half years old. Carine, forty years old. Clara is a child full of energy, who often struggles to channel it in her little body. This has intensified since her mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The day the photo was taken, we asked Clara to concentrate in order to transfer all her love and especially all her energy to her mother. Strong and gentle, the little hand on the sick breast. Determined, the gaze directed toward recovery. Despite the moments of discouragement encountered by this mom weakened by chemotherapy, she knows that she can also draw her strength from the love she shares with her children.

A battle. A disease. A family for a victory.
Fabienne fought her battle against cancer over two years. A battle with highs, and lows. What is more important than the support of your family to make energy surge forth, to cope with shocks, to boost morale, and to finally win? Children beside their mother and a husband beside his wife. All together to conquer this disease.

Through the pink veil worn by the models, I feel fragility, optimism, and dynamism all at once. Beneath the cloth, we don’t notice the missing breast. Two photographs in one, each bearing part of a singular story, but united for the same message of prevention.

Why not a man? I’ve sought for such a long time to photograph a man, but not just anyone! My model immediately responded positively to my request because everyone may be confronted by breast cancer: yes, men also have breasts.
He’s a very open man, who enjoys the good things in life. We subverted the television slogan of a famous game of chance: “Today it’s me, who’s turn tomorrow?” We don’t mock, but send out a simple message to raise everyone’s awareness about cancer screening. Hearty thanks to all the women and men who dare reveal themselves in order to accelerate the progress of the fight against this disease.

Plunging viewpoint shot of a breast from over the legs, multiplied in a circular movement. Specially created for this competition, from a distance the abstract nature of this composition makes it look like close-up of a shell. We come closer and discover a breast, then two, then more again, hidden and turned away in the modesty of the infinity that opens up in the black gap of the line of the two legs.
This photo is also about tenderness. The rotary effect to indicate the necessary turning in on ourselves, which allows us to listen to our intimate selves and the whole universe in order to better rebuild ourselves after the disease. Courage, strength, determination, dynamism, balance, and patience... like the shell, the ocean ear of the world, which is built and rebuilt to the rhythm of the tides.

“Since 2013, Mister Cancer has come back into my life and allowed himself to gain ground. I’ve understood that, in order to vanquish him, we must tame and accept him, set out to meet this body with a different breast. Love ourselves with all our might. Find the strength to forgive the past, woo the beauty of the present, and construct the harmony of the future. Many are afraid of sickness and death and prefer to bury their heads in the sand. Illusion. Death can knock at the door at any time. Let us accept ourselves as true women, sensual and radiant. To hope: the joy of living in harmony in the family, at work, and in society, will be our future.” – Jacqueline

Accessit Prize 2014
The protagonist of this photograph is the woman, not the disease. Surrounded by black, the subject is lit by a single spotlight to accentuate the contrasts, as though marking the end of the tunnel.
My friend wanted to rediscover her femininity, a femininity that she thought she’d lost. This image is the means by which to bring her another image of herself. Serenity. Force. Assurance. Beauty.
This “Pink Energy” represents the hope sought through new gazes, through my gaze. For me, this photo session was a true life lesson. For her, a therapy. For us, pride.

After her dance, the ballerina takes the time to live this instant.
At this moment, she knows. She knows that she has finally conquered the disease. In the greatest serenity, she lets rain, a source of energy and of life, make its way over her. She can feel each of its drops, which run over her body, each of her breaths, each of the beats that resonate inside her. Her body is her own again. Vital energy transcends her.

I chose a simple photo to evoke femininity: a pink ribbon around her neck and a few sparks for hope. As an amateur photographer, I like the idea of this competition so as to join in the everyday fight, a moment of solidarity. No matter what happens our femininity will always shine!

100 WOMEN - The energy of 100 women in a campground in Normandy, gathered together against the rain, the time it took to take a photograph. Our campground is a real community. Some of our residents are suffering from breast cancer and we all feel particularly implicated in this cause. This is why we naturally decided to mobilize our fellow campers. Each participant promised to get screened and to hold in her hand a balloon with a message attached: “If you find this balloon, get screened for breast cancer.” The balloons then went off down their own paths. Who knows, a simple balloon could perhaps save a life. Unity gives your strength!

The life instinct is a resource of unsuspected force that only one thing can stop: not having enough time to realize it.
2008. Thirty years old. Beyond the words “irreversible after-effects,” this pink wave and the support of her close friends were so many winds in her sails to overcome obstacles, one by one.
Five and a half years later, she at last hears the words “complete remission” and at the same time gets her sports instructor diploma!
This powerful wind still blows, more and more intensely. The “after-effects” mysteriously recede, from year to year, thanks to this continuous movement. The movement is life, the embodiment both strong and gentle of her body, the expression both silent and roaring of her Amazon soul. Early cancer screening would have spared her many things. It’s the best weapon for all us women. No one had ever seen these scars, this reconstructed breast, which recounts her story, that of a cancer that her doctors cured, but also of the new direction of her life line. She choose to dare. The pink energy is there, it resonates and illuminates each of her gestures, which she wants to offer to as many people as possible. So, let there be light!

For us, the Pink Ribbon is above all about prevention and early cancer screening. Life must be the reflection of our personality and this adventure is above all a great moment to be shared. We must never give in.

Mimi, in this ordeal, you asked me to convey with you a small thing about this moment in your life.
With all my support, my friendship, and my love for life, I chose to portray you naked and to associate my favorite flower, the rose, with you. For everything they symbolize, my roses are here the color of of pink.
Mia Rose, Queen of Flowers. With them, you rediscover joy and happiness. Like them, you offer your grace and kindness. Through their velvety softness and their very fragile petals, you are revived by their touch. Like the pink rose, you honor us with your freshness and your femininity. Through their electrifying beauty, you bloom with elegance and gaiety. Like the rose, you remind us of the fragility of human life.
Thus, Mia Rosa, Queen of Flowers, “Live, if you believe me, do not wait until tomorrow, pick today the roses of life.” (Pierre de Ronsard)

“This photo is me one month ago, seven years ago, twelve years ago... Energy, I want to convey it by my gaze and my smile. I want to communicate, give, share what fate has put me through.
This woman’s face, I accepted it and even more, I love it for the history it recounts and the message it wants to deliver. We must believe. Believe in the progress of medicine, but above all believe in ourselves, in our capacity to fight and to stand up again. We gain time from a life that has no price, apart from the one that we wish to give it.” – Sophie

A woman facing her present reality. In her hand, her mammography, like an illusory breast, an obvious fact that must be integrated.
“Tomorrow won’t be like yesterday. It will be new and will depend on us. There is less to discover than there is to invent.” – Gaston Berger

My mother, the center of my world and my life, did not survive breast cancer. Today and in the years ahead, I will set out, like all other women, to fight against it. Hence, I will take my courage in both hands, I will win, I will live.

“We aren’t born a woman, we become it.” I was able to understand this by watching my mother suffering from breast cancer a few years ago. How could this body that had given life to me be so damaged by the disease? Between mastectomy and reconstruction, day after day, the veil of sadness covered her like a shroud. But all our love as well as her love of life ended up casting off this weight. At last a new woman was born! Today her reflection in the mirror makes her smile and she even thinks she’s pretty. She tells me each day that life is beautiful and that thanks or not to cancer, she lives differently. What a lesson!

This mosaic was created in the context of an artistic initiative to show support for people suffering from breast cancer: “Montrez-nous le vôtre !” (“Show us yours!”), which arose after five difficult years, during which I’d seen my mom fight daily against breast cancer. Like other works of the same kind, it was composed of pieces made from the miniaturization of photos offered by members of the collective. Exhibitions-sales of these mosaics helped to mobilize funds for the development of new therapies against breast cancer.

BIG BANG. Larousse Dictionary definition: “Event which can be comparable to a gigantic explosion. In the figurative sense: an upheaval provoking a radical change in a sector.” Last year my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, shortly after the birth of our second son. Cancer is a genuine Big Bang: it makes the world we know explode so as to better reconstruct it afterwards. This photograph, taken a little while after the lumpectomy and the end of chemotherapy, symbolizes the renewal that followed this upheaval.

Accessit Prize 2014
Léna, my model, initiated this project. Makeup to dress up what she calls her “non-breast” and to speak of the strength given to her by her family in her battle with the disease. Sylvaine, a tattoo artist, involved and a partner in the project, created the makeup. A beautiful encounter, of the kind that unites men and women around great causes.
Léna said these words: “Laurent, Axel, Adrien, VIncent, CApucine, CAndice, JOhanna, and LEna – LAVICAJOLE* – is the symbol of my family and of our force.”
* Translator’s note: LAVICAJOLE is made up word which sounds like “la vie cajole” (“the cuddle life”).

In the beginning, a pregnant woman wishing to immortalize in a photo this particular moment in her life. Timeless photographs in superb places, exhibited in several festivals. But, beyond the images, it was above all a lovely encounter. A few years later, the young woman fell sick and wanted to fight with everything she had. Once again she decided to keep a photographic trace of this particular period: an approach which is, in and of itself, a first step toward recovery. It was also a wonderful life lesson, a rebirth: reminding herself of this ordeal in order to put everyday hassles into perspective and fully take advantage of life. Images that command respect and testify to a peerless determination to overcome this ordeal.

A warrior. To Marie-Louise, my grandmother who I would have liked to have known.
This is the way I imagine you, Marie-Louise: a warrior at the beginning of the century. A warrior in a checked apron tied behind your back. An Amazon with gentle blue eyes, your hands in flour and butter, your breast affected. A woman facing an indescribable ordeal who kneads, Sunday after Sunday, the dough of a marble cake. In memory of you, I now wear your quiver, Marie-Louise the warrior. In memory of you, I recount with my conscious body the battle that was yours. On this day of reunion, like a bouquet of peonies, I offer your victory to the world.

“In 2012, when I was diagnosed with the presence of breast cancer when I was forty-one, I found myself confronted by a multitude of questions about the disease. This breast which inevitably brings to mind the symbolism of maternity, femininity, sexuality. For my treatment, I had a breast lumpectomy, followed by preventative chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In society, attitudes to the disease have evolved and this is a good thing. This disease is unfortunately so familiar for many among us. So many women have experienced, experience, or will experience this ordeal, with the femininity that we must defend from the disease. We are born women and will remain so. Participating in this competition, through my husband’s camera, was a way for me to support early cancer screening and to say how important it is to be resilient in the ordeal. Today, I am doing very well.” – Nathalie

“It’s the story of a woman who one day faced the disease. A thunderbolt out of the blue in a life that had been so calm until then. After the news, fear, incomprehension, questions. Joie de vivre was transformed into rage, tears, silence.
Tests, treatments, tests, treatments... the inseparable couple! And, one day, an encounter. Initially professional, it became friendly. Genuine friendship blossomed, which gave me back my smile and illuminated once again this face tarnished by the disease. Good encounters restore your energy and give rise to new projects. This story, it’s my story.” – Catherine

In the ordeal of cancer, there is a particularly traumatic and shocking moment, when you prepare for chemotherapy by shaving your head.
When my daughter Léa had to go through this painful stage, it seemed important to me to transform it into a creative and joyful experience. Passionate about photography, I wanted for us to together convey a message of hope to other women with the disease, to show that we can be beautiful without hair, that we can continue to take care of ourselves, to wear makeup and even laugh despite the disease. Thanks to this, Léa was able to maintain a positive and constructive energy the whole way along.

Directly or indirectly affected by breast cancer, we Les Givrées, a gang of girlfriends, decided to take action! Our only weapon: our energy to raise awareness about cancer screening, support research, and pay tribute to the women who fight against the disease. To salute the courage and energy of these women, our mothers, sisters, friends: there you go, that’s our goal! For three years, we have been bearing the flag of the fight against breast cancer through our defiance! We move mountains, we run for the good cause, we pedal for hope, and we poke out our tongues at cancer by showing our pink bras! This photo was taken during a 124-mile-per-hour free fall, a great leap into the unknown, full of symbolism, life, and energy.

A message of hope, a life lesson through this image, the testament of the strength of a family who has been living with this scourge for several generations and whose serene courage especially moves me. Despite all the painful ordeals endured until now, the energy of the battle remains very present, conveyed through smiles, gentleness, tenderness, authenticity, and love. You simply learn to live with it and to remain hopeful in all circumstances.

VIVACIOUS AND FEMININE. Life, movement. To dance. To smile. A rose tattooed on your arm to remind yourself of beauty and femininity. A Pink Ribbon in your hand to forget nothing of the battle.

Laughter, complicity, emotion, energy! Our moments together are always full of these. On this particular day, Annick needed to feel beautiful, feminine in spite of the disease and the treatment. Flo knows how to reveal the beauty of the subjects she photographs. Meanwhile, I captured this instant without taking into account the importance of this session.
Today Annick is well, these moments she experienced, in the middle and throughout the disease, only reinforced our trio. It’s not unusual that she in turn brings us the energy needed to overcome our problems. Our friendship and the energy of our trio aren’t about to stop.
I love you!

“Energy in order to smile at life. Energy and determination to fight this ‘Fucking C!’ Energy in order to continue to be a mom to my daughters each day. Energy in order to better accept my reflection, my amputated femininity.
This energy, I have it because I had the good fortune to have been screened for cancer when I was thirty-one years old, to have crossed paths with profoundly compassionate health professionals, to have received the best treatments and to be surrounded with the love of my family. All of this endows me with incredible strength. And even though my head now hovers of the toilet bowl as I cope with my second round of chemotherapy, I know that I will manage!
Don’t let doubt take root. Right near us we have all the means to do cancer screening and be treated!” – Hélène

On this particular day, Christine got in touch. She needed a photographer. She told me about the awful disease afflicting her and, in the context of a “phototherapy,” she was reaching out to me. Her dazzling smile, her joie de vivre: despite everything, life continues. In the end, it’s me, Christine, who thanks you for having passed on to me your good mood and your lovely energy!

“Life is a passion by which beauty passes to a lesser perfection.” – Claire de Lamirande Thirty-five-year-old Peggy learned she had stage 3 breast cancer. After a total mastectomy of her right breast in June 2014, she is currently undergoing chemotherapy, repeating every morning: “Because each day counts.” With this photo, together we wished to emphasize the energy she continues to expend, day after day, in order to continue to feel like a woman despite the disease. Black and white was necessary, in reference to the stars of the 1950s. Peggy will most likely lose her hair but she’ll never lose her audacity, or this force that drives her each day and that will continue to make people’s heads turn!

LEVITATION -The pink ribbon and a rose’s petals to symbolize the mobilization and energy deployed in support of breast cancer screening. Levitation to signify the end of relapses.
The complete DNA sequencing of the human genome is a major scientific advance in the fight against cancer and breast cancer. But, first up, we musn’t forget: cancer screening is a matter that concerns everyone! My project is built around a collaboration between several continents, through these actors: the model – Amandine B. – is from Cayenne, a French territory of Latin America; the makeup artist – Mademoiselle Phan – is Laotian; as for me, I was born and raised in France. Together, we wanted to produce an image full of meaning, which didn’t put the accent on the scars of the disease but instead on the energy radiated by this fight.