When I was notified that I was assigned to photograph a Shanti Breast Cancer patient I missed a heartbeat. My mom died of breast cancer at the young age of 51, and facing this task has really hit home for me. The first memory that sprang to my mind was going with my mom to find a wig as she was going through chemotherapy. 

With these memories I went to photograph Ms. Li, a woman in her sixties, originally from Hong Kong, who has just completed her chemotherapy treatment. I met her at her cozy Shanti-provided room. I spent the majority of our time together photographing Ms. Li looking beautiful, wearing a hat and a wig, smiling. When I felt that she was trusting me and feeling at ease, I asked her to remove the facade and show me her cancer-iconic scalp. I wanted to show that she was a dignified person with real life outside the disease, but at the same time show the elements that the disease brought into her life.

As I processed the photos at home, I was angry at the disease that took away my mom, that invaded into precious Ms. Li's life. I thought about how cancer attacks at random, and that the bald head could be mine, it could be yours, it could be just about anyone's. To make this point, I used Photoshop to remove Ms. Li's facial features from her portrait to create Cancer Has No Face.