Saturday, October 13, 2012

Melly's Breast Pocket Project

My friend (and talented artist) Melanie Testa is in the midst of an exciting project to raise awareness for women who have had breast cancer and chosen not to reconstruct their breasts. She's one of those women!

She is gathering 1000 hand made "breast pockets." She took the idea of pockets on shirts or blouses and is using them as a symbol for the new landscape a woman's body might take. You can make pockets too.

I made pockets out of Wonder Under release paper. I love the transparency.
I like the idea of "seeing through." Melanie has been completely honest and transparent about her thoughts, experiences and struggles. I think it's interesting to think about women's bodies and what is seen and unseen.

I cut several words of out magazines to tuck into the pockets.

And I cut letters for the names of three women who have chosen to be flat.
I met Karen in a workshop. We didn't talk too much, but enough for me to know that she is a survivor in many ways. Of course, Melly. And I don't really know Tig, but I made a pocket for her too. She talked about her breast cancer on Conan O'Brien.

Tig has a new comedy album out. It's called Live! (You get the double meaning there, right?)


Thanks Melly! You are something to CELEBRATE!

9 comments:

Joanne S said...

WOW. What a powerful idea. And so much better than "pink".

My friends have also chosen to remain "flat" and it isn't easy at first. I will make pockets for them.

Kristin L said...

I love your pockets, especially the conceptual parts about transparency (you know I love me some conceptual). I just heard about Tig on Fresh Air today. I hope that Melly's project is successful and gets seen by a wider audience than just her blog followers. I'm making pockets for her too!

Jeannie said...

I love your pockets! Besides Melly being open and transparent about her choice, I flashed on her love of silk organza and how she uses it in her artwork. I just saw Tig on the Late Late Show (or whatever it is called now). She is amazing and so very funny. I'd better get back to making my pockets!

Anonymous said...

What an awesome idea! And I agree...I'm done with the pink...my friend had cancer and she hated pink!

Melly Testa said...

I love, love, love these! Thank you so very much, Deborah.

Natalya Khorover Aikens said...

what a fun idea for breast pockets! I finished mine too, just got to take a picture...

Lisa Chin said...

Deborah! These are fabulous! I love the transparency and the words for each woman. What a fabulous idea!

Vivien Zepf said...

Cool idea, Deborah! Love them.

Anonymous said...

Deborah I love how you did your pockets!