FUCK IT – IT'S MEN! Not only women get breast cancer.

We photograph and interview women and men suffering from breast cancer. Through exhibitions, we create visibility among a wide audience and encourage identification among those affected, but also call for discourse in society to combat the stigmatization that arises around the disease and to bring the topic up for discussion.

Men with breast cancer face different challenges than women. For one thing, it is virtually unknown that men can develop breast cancer at all. On the other hand, they find themselves in woman's hospital wards and confronted with a therapy and environment that is exclusively geared towards women.

n the NRW-Forum Düsseldorf (www.nrw-forum.de) we now have the unique opportunity to draw attention to breast cancer in men and to increase visibility and dialogue. The NRW Forum is an international exhibition center for photography, pop and digital culture. It picks up on current social issues and translates them into high-energy, dialogic formats. So we will not only exhibit our photographs there, but also network and enlighten as part of an interdisciplinary forum day.

The forum day planned for Friday, June 16th, 2023 brings different disciplines together and invites to a discussion. Lectures and panel discussions are planned from the fields of (gender) medicine, psycho-oncology, radiation therapy as well as art and art sciences and of course the protagonists of FUCK IT - I'M ALIVE! series to speak. In addition to education and awareness on the subject of breast cancer and breast cancer in men in particular, the positions and possibilities of art are discussed and displayed. The forum day will be held together with the Healing Culture Network, represented by Insa Schrader and Dr. Elke Backes, art historian and representative of KURA Concepts.

The original project FUCK IT – I'M ALIVE! came about when photographer Iris Edinger, along with designer Jazek Poralla, suggested that their friend Marjorieth Sanmartin, who had breast cancer, photograph them. Iris Edinger felt that she could best counter her own insecurity and speechlessness in the face of her friend's illness with her ability to take photographs and wanted to create a documentation for Marjorieth's children so that they could see what their mother was going through and coping with during the time she was ill.

FUCK IT - I'M ALIVE! This sentence goes back to Marjorieth Sanmartin's answer to cancer and henceforth became the motto that stands over the entire work. Due to the provocative choice of words, this sentence is also a signal to the public. He embodies the attitude to life of holding on to what you have: I'm alive, that's what counts!

The project affects several target groups: On the one hand, we want to use art and photography to make the topic visible to the public and to enlighten them. The large-format photos leave the viewer with no choice but to look and confront their own feelings and thoughts. "Look at me, look!" seem to say the protagonist.

Of course, we also speak to sick people and their environment: family, friends, acquaintances and work colleagues. We confront those who are interested in photography and art and museum visitors with a topic that they might not otherwise have had any contact with, and we also provide gender-neutral information here.

From the shadow of the disease into the public spotlight:
Every individual who knows about breast cancer in men means more of a check-up.
You take the topic of breast cancer in men out of the taboo zone and make sure that men are no longer looked at without understanding when they go to the doctor.

The money will be used for the preparation, the photo shoots, the organization and realization of the exhibition and the forum day. We are planning an exhibition catalog for the entire series of works (17 protagonists and approx. 200 pages), hoodies to make you feel good and to spread the project, and we are also planning a special edition here. Excess funds flow 100% into the continuation of the project - be it with men or women! – i.e. in new photo shoots, image productions and the organization of further exhibitions.