Empowered Journeys: A Co-Curated Exploration of Breast Cancer Surgery

This is the booklet that accompanies the Empowered Journeys exhibition, a co-curated display of artworks and text created by Alexandra Perry, Elizabeth Lydiate, Frankie Vale, Katherine Baker, Mary Geraghty, Penny Wright, and Sarah Browne, people with lived expertise of breast cancer surgery. The booklet also contains a foreword by research fellow Jimmy Turner.

The exhibition, and therefore the materials contained within this booklet, are the culmination of a year-long curatorial research project as part of a wider doctoral project being undertaken by Frankie Vale at the University of Glasgow. The project uses participatory approaches to respond to a crisis in representation for the post-surgery body; the current state of representation is wrapped up in detached medical imagery, or concepts of heroism and martyrdom. Although these forms of representation have their place, and are inspiring and aspirational for some, for others they do not feel representative, and can have negative effects. Empowered Journeys speaks to the importance of representation to feel seen, heard, and to feel less alone in your experiences. This guide showcases the artworks that were created when the question of representation was put to a group of women who have been through breast cancer surgery and highlights the themes that thread between the works to build a different understanding of representation, one that is rooted in the lived experience of the women who collaborated on the project.

The University of Edinburgh has been instrumental in providing moments of collaboration and dissemination for this research project, helping Frankie to refine ideas and concepts that have then translated into Empowered Journeys itself.