wellcome collection acquire photographic portrait and story of sarah-jane
My portrait of Sarah-Jane has been acquired by the Wellcome Collection, London.
This work was initially made for ‘LGBTQ+ gynae stories’, a socially engaged and participatory research project which explores in the inequities in gynae healthcare for LGBTQ+ people. It was also a winner of the British Journal of Photography’s Portrait of Britain Volume 7.
With thanks to the Wellcome Collection team for believing in this work, and the powerful story we wanted to share through both the portrait and Sarah-Jane’s words.
Sarah-Jane told me: “It took a doctor that looked like me to listen. She was the first doctor in two years to physically examine me, and as soon as she did, she could feel my tumour. Six hours later after an emergency CT scan I was told that they had found a 4kg mass measuring 20cm x 20cm x 19cm which was filling my abdomen, crushing other organs, causing damage to my bowel and pushing up into my diaphragm - reducing my lung capacity and ability to breathe. Medical weight stigma allowed my cancer to grow unchecked, many others are medically gaslit and told that we don’t know what’s happening to our bodies or the pain we are experiencing is considered a ‘normal’ part of ‘womanhood’, leaving our symptoms to go unheard, untested and untreated until it’s too late.”
