Representation of Breast Cancer :: Cancer Health Photography Essays

Representation of Breast Cancer "Palimpsest" is defined as "awrittendocument, typically on vellum or parchment, that has been writtenupon severaltimes, often with remnants of earlier, imperfectly erased writingstill visible,remnants of this kind being a major source for the recovery of lostliteraryworks of classical antiquity" (American Heritage Dictionary). Thisdefinitionprovides a way to theorize the intersection of photography withbreast cancer asa medical condition, a personal trial, and a discourse. As breast cancerstatistics approach one ineight women, critics are beginning to theorize the ways in whichthe disease isnot only a health condition but a psycho-social and a culturalcondition. Themedical world develops a particular set of descriptions of andreactions topatients' health conditions, while individuals,families and groupsgeneratetheir own responses and vocabulary. In addition, larger patterns ofaction anddiscussion also shape and are shaped by culture, that is,society(s),lifestyles, media and artistic and literary production. "Breastcancer"therefore merits a better understanding of the forces ofrepresentation whichdefine the disease itself and its sufferers. Here I aim to examinethe interplayspecifically of photography with representation of breast cancerand breastcancer bodies. Part of the challenge of this project, and indeedits point isthat breast cancer photography is still not found in majorhistories ofphotography, or even anthologies of womenà ¾s photography . Itstradition lies inx-rays, MRIs and collections of medical photographs designed forthe purposes ofdocumentation or instruction, or, alternately, in scattered exhibitions or collections. This history has only very recently been reclaimed and written differently by women photographers and writers, and feminist academics and activists. I have deliberately chosen two photographs whose subject involves some type of writing literally on the bodyas a way ofconcentrating my discussion of the issues involved when photography attempts to process or project experiences of breast cancer, or shape publicperceptions ofthe disease. In this essay, which is part of a more extensiveinvestigation, I will begin some readings focusing on how two women's work incombined image andtext points to desire and agency. The photographs have both strongsimilaritiesin their re-writing on and of the breast cancer body, and markeddifferences intheir attitudes and intentions. In each case, the photograph itselfis worthlooking at closely as a photograph on its own, yet the text whichaccompanieseach of them--the book it originally appears in with itsdescription of theimage or its production--crucially shapes the meaning of thephotograph. I usethe paradigm of the "palimpsest" in both fairly literal andmetaphorical ways inorder to look at severa l questions: 1.