The Grace Project

Hey friends... The month of October is quickly approaching. This year The Grace Project will have 3 exhibitions on display featuring The Athena Division. (Military personnel and Veterans affected by breast cancer). There will be small exhibit of local veterans/active military at the VA in Durham NC through the month of October and then at the end of Oct, and two consecutive exhibitions, both a duration of 6 weeks at the San Francisco VA and then at the SF American Legion Veterans Gallery.
There are so many levels of healing associated with this project... Seeing these portraits displayed is incredibly empowering for those who participate, and helpful for others affected by breast cancer to see these brave souls in a powerful light and to hear the stories of those who have traveled a similar path.
We are working hard to raise awareness of the increased risk of breast cancer for those who serve (up to 40%) and the VA have been making vast improvements with regards to treatment and support of their patients affected by breast cancer and some efforts toward research. We'd like to keep the momentum going. If you are able please consider making a contribution towards the ex*****on of these upcoming exhibitions. I need to raise approximately $7000 between printing, shipping and traveling to and from these locations to hang the exhibits, do talks, and give others in those regions the powerful opportunity to share the story written on their body. Thanks. Sincerely, Charise.

Our friends at the VA are making incredible progress with regards to research and treatment for Veterans and active military with breast cancer... thanks to the hard work of some of the incredibly powerful women that we have been collaborating with that have been so helpful in getting THE ATHENA DIVISION exhibited and recognized.

Summary and Roadmap of Breast Cancer Research in the Veterans Affairs ABSTRACT. Women are the largest growing population of Veterans within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care System. Among women Veterans

Grace Goddess Melissa understands first hand the challenges breast cancer patients face in the bedroom… she has started this brilliant new business. Check it out!

Meet Melissa Eppard: Cancer Thriver, Coach, & Upstate Mary Co-Founder | Upstate Mary - CBD Intimacy Products “We tried every CBD l**e we could get our hands on and sadly a lot of them fell short,” Melissa explained the inspiration for her venture. Many CBD lubricants weren’t organic, smelled weird, or didn’t taste good. So Melissa and her business partner, Michelle Bergkamp, created their own, laun...

Beauty!

Today is Women Veterans Recognition Day. As a result I am launching a new fundraiser where I will be looking for sponsors for photographs that I will be exhibiting during the month of October at the VAMC in Raleigh NC. Each photograph costs approximately $200 to print and ship. The dozen Veterans that will be featured in this exhibit are local to North Carolina... and it will be healing and empowering for them to have their portrait and story exhibited while also raising awareness of the increased chance of a breast cancer diagnosis (up to 40%) for those who serve. This is Tina. Tina lived for a time in one of the toxic barracks. She lives with metastatic breast cancer which is currently incurable. Please sponsor or partially sponsor her portrait. When I have raised the $200 to print and ship her portrait, I will post another... thanks for you help.

I truly do NOT like making these posts... but unfortunately we are not there yet in terms of a cure and available treatments for metastatic breast cancer. My friend Denise just died as a result of 💔. A truly lovely and brave woman. The first time I photographed her was in Florida... and some old dude kept creeping around despite the fact that we told him what we were doing and why we were doing it, he just couldn't seem to keep his eyes off of this Goddess. None the less we continued on and we had a good long laugh about it... I had the honor to spend time with her and photograph her a second time in Vail this past December while she was on a bucket list trip with MBC Travelers Nonprofit. Her cancer had progressed and she knew she didn't have much time left. Denise truly LIVED and loved and didn't ever let anything get in the way of her joy...

Today is
What is your joy... what in your life makes you smile?

Shipping out today is an example of a batch of photographs that are being mailed out to some of the recent photo subjects of The Grace Project. Each of these cost average $20 to print $8 to package and ship (to change out the ink on my printer is $750 each time... not to mention hours and hours of time to do all of this... Last year alone I shot about 150 portraits. So you can imagine the expense.. this doesn't count the cost of traveling to photograph everyone... props, update and upkeep of equipment... etc. And doesn't count the immense expense of exhibition prints which I must have done at a lab because of the specialty printing materials for exhibits... plus the cost of shipping out and then shipping back the exhibition prints. I do everything on a shoestring budget... and really need all of your help to keep this all going. Please consider adding a donation so that more breast cancer survivors can experience the beautiful gift of a powerful experience and a beautiful portrait of themselves received in the mail..

Warm days ahead...

River Goddess Grace Goddess Portraitwww.the-grace-project.orgwww.facebook.com/graceprojecttwitter/instagram

Sheila has died. 💔
Advocate
Extraordinaire.

'The Grace Project': A look inside the Athena Division From the lens of her camera, Charise Isis captures the story.In her shoot with Shelia Johnson, she's focusing on her inside and out."She is so beautiful and ...

and Those who serve in our have up to a 40% increased chance of a diagnosis.

“Oh Mom, you look like a beautiful mermaid” (quote from her daughter after seeing her Grace photo)

Once again I have been invited to participate in the New York Foundation for the Arts Hall of Fame Benefit Auction. A beautiful 16x24 limited edition portrait of this image, printed on aluminum is available at a starting bid of $300.00. This would be a fantastic image for a Doctors/surgeon/oncologist/nurse practitioners office... or if you are like me and just love beautiful images of powerful people surrounding you in your home, then this would be a great art piece for YOU! The proceeds from the sale of the print will support NYFA and their artist programming. NYFA has been pivotal in my career as an artist and I am proud to support them, and honored to be selected and featured amongst some incredible artists creating work of the highest caliber. Check out the amazing art in this auction... invest in art... support artists and the organizations that support them!!!...

Greetings Friends... I need your help. The Grace Project bank account is getting low... which always gives me a little anxiety! This year I will be traveling to Rocky Top TN with with Flat Out Love to photograph more Goddesses (the last time I traveled with them I photographed 76 people over a three day period) and to Hawaii with MBC Travelers Nonprofit allowing some metastatic patients the opportunity to be photographed on a bucket list wish trip... I will also be having an exhibition of The Athena Division at the VAMC in San Francisco and simultaneously at the VAMC in North Carolina... I will need $$$ to travel to all of these locations and also to print and ship the artwork for both exhibits. While in those locations I will also be photographing subjects in those regions who wish to be photographed for the project. Soooooo... there is all of that production plus the cost of flights and accommodations... (I do this all on a shoestring budget).
In addition, every person that is photographed (and at this point it is over 800 subjects) receives 2 signed fine art prints in the mail from their photoshoot. To give you an idea of this cost, the replacement ink for my photo printer is $700. a pack of 50 sheets of photo paper is $60 and the average cost of packing and shipping to every person is about $7.00 So around about $25 for each person I photograph... not including the expense and time it took to get to them. I have about 113 people waiting in the wings for their photographs and I have to raise every cent in order to do this... I really can't do this alone... so I'm reaching out to you... the beautiful supporters of this project and the believers in the healing power of art to help me do this. Please consider contributing any amount that you are comfortable with to help me to do this important work. Click the donate link on this post (all FB payments are via PayPal... so it is a safe transaction)... but there is also a direct link to PayPal on the Grace Project website if you are more comfortable with that... or if you like you can send a check to Grace Goddess inc. 251 Broadway, Kingston NY 12401. Grace Goddess inc. is a 501 (c) 3 organization, so all contributions are tax deductible under U.S.A. law. Deep gratitude to all who can contribute... and gratitude also to those who are not in the position to be able to do so... but support the project in other ways, I am truly grateful... Charise Here is another stunning Goddess to brighten your day

I hope you can all feel this level of joy today. 💕

this

Spirits story. I posted it a few years ago... but If you haven't seen this.... watch all the way through... Spirit had a powerful story to tell... this was only a few months after I'd photographed her and a few months before she died in 2020 Her message remains true, black women have a 40% higher mortality rate with regards to breast cancer than caucasian women. #

Spirit's story The Grace Project Shot during Covid times, this is Spirit's story... a stage iv, metastatic cancer patient. I photographed Spirit just two months ago. Since then her disease...

Another loss... Sweet, Annie (on the left with the tattoos) has died from Metastatic breast cancer. We need a cure. 💔 Love to her family and friends, her partner, and her breast freind Toni (pictured with her here). I wish I could make more positive posts... We have had a lot of losses recently... unfortunately this is a reality of breast cancer. We lose friends. Help slow down the losses... donate to research METAvivor Research and Support Inc.

These two lovely friends showed up together for a Grace Project photo shoot... the joy and the support that breast cancer survivors/thrivers get from each other is palpable.... I'm glad that I was able to capture the love.

I have a dream...

“Bravery is not the absence of fear. Bravery is feeling the fear, the doubt, the insecurity and deciding something else is more important.” - Marl Manson
Going into the new year... what will you be brave about?

"Bravery is not the absence of fear. Bravery is feeling the fear, the doubt, the insecurity and deciding something else is more important." - Marl Manson
Going into the new year... what will you be brave about?

Enough already. Breast cancer has stolen the life of another Goddess. Good bye to my beautiful and majestic friend Mj. Links to her poetry in the comments.💔

Wishing you all unbridled joy, resilience, unlimited beauty and abundant love. Happy New Year everyone!