My breasts, my story
Professor Joanna Callaghan’s transdisciplinary autoethnographic project, My Breasts, My Story, investigates the much needed yet underexplored field of creative research into lived experiences of breast cancer.
In autumn 2017, Joanna Callaghan, Professor of Filmmaking in the School of Media, Arts and Humanities, was diagnosed with breast cancer. This devastating news marked the beginning of an intensely personal journey through treatment, remission, and a second cancer in 2020 which prompted her painful decision to undergo a double mastectomy.
One of Joanna’s four sisters, Cathy, also had a breast cancer diagnosis, and it emerged that both Joanna and Cathy have the rare PALB2 gene, one of three genetic variants including BRCA1 and BRCA2, which carry an increased risk of developing certain cancers. Women with the PALB2 gene have a 40-60% increased risk of developing breast cancer. Following her diagnosis, Joanna was inspired to document and explore her experiences of treatment and recovery, and to challenge taboos surrounding breast health.
‘My Breasts, My Story’ is a transdisciplinary, practice-based research project supported by Arts Council England, Macmillan and the University of Sussex. In it, Joanna explores the breast from creative, scientific and historical perspectives through workshops, interviews, performance, film and installation.
“The breast is a site of many emotions, of complex and sometimes uncomfortable issues,” says Joanna. “It is rich for exploring from multiple angles. Nevertheless, many narratives about the breast have been ‘written’ by the users of breasts, for instance as a sexual object, commercial object, feeding object or diseased object. There is a lack of understanding of lived experience of breasts and a lack of visible stories about the breadth of breast experiences.”
In September 2022, Joanna was invited to undertake an artist residency at the University of Sussex’s Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA). Through collaborations with performers, patients and clinicians, her residency focused on play, both as a tool for recovery and a conduit for engagement with younger audiences. The centrepiece of the residency was the Big Breast – a nine-metre-wide inflatable ‘breast’ modelled from Joanna’s own and assembled as an interactive installation. This extraordinary work allowed audiences to explore the breast externally and internally with clusters of suspended balls and tubes acting as tactile representations of internal breast anatomy – from fat cells to glands and nerves.
The experience was so important for our young female dancers, who said that no-one had spoken to them about mastectomies before, or about the anatomy inside a breast or how that worked.” PIP SAYERS
Creative Producer, Project Female
The playful absurdity of the Big Breast belies its more serious message. It’s a personal farewell from Joanna to her own breasts and a visceral immersion within the arena in which cancer is encountered and confronted. The ‘cancer’ here is represented by a cluster of black balloons nestled within the yellows, pinks and reds of inflatable mammary architecture.
In 2023, Joanna hopes to secure funding that will enable her to complete work on her documentary film Goodbye Breasts!, which charts her experiences from diagnosis through treatment and recovery.
The film is characteristically surreal, infused with symbolism, home movie footage and interview material, and charts the construction of the Big Breast and performative journey to recovery delivered as part of the ACCA residency.
The playful absurdity of the Big Breast belies its more serious message.”
An important collaboration in Joanna’s residency and film, and one which underscores her engagement with younger audiences, was with the Brighton-based dance company Project Female. Founded in 2018, the company encourages young women to express themselves through dance in an environment free of judgement. Working with Joanna, the young dancers performed routines in front of the Big Breast and incorporated movements inspired by post-mastectomy exercises for the arms and torso.
“Working with Joanna was a really great experience,” says Project Female’s creative producer, Pip Sayers. “The joy that Joanna brought to the process created an environment that removed any awkwardness and allowed discussions about breasts to naturally take place with women and men across generations.
“The whole experience was so important for us to share with our young female dancers,” she adds. “They said that no-one had really spoken to them about mastectomies before, or about the anatomy inside a breast or how that worked.”
Joanna’s research includes interviews and workshops with women affected by breast cancer and mastectomies via Queen Victoria and Royal Sussex Hospitals, through support groups Brighton BRCA group, BRCA+ Chat and Restore, a charity supporting reconstructive surgery. These powerfully stark testimonies are featured in Goodbye Breasts! addressing the loneliness of the breast cancer journey – particularly within clinical settings.
Joanna’s project could have real therapeutic benefit for those patients who would be encouraged and inspired by Joanna’s story and achievement.”PROFESSOR MALCOLM REED
Breast cancer surgical oncologist and Dean of Brighton and Sussex Medical School
Breast cancer surgical oncologist and Dean of Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), Professor Malcolm Reed, notes that “post traumatic growth following diagnosis and treatment is a phenomenon which is not well recognised, and which is dependent on both the quality of the physical and emotional support. Joanna’s project could have real therapeutic benefit for those patients who would be encouraged and inspired by Joanna’s story and achievement.”
Joanna’s 15-year-old son Dante and husband Joachim have been crucial to the delivery of the project, which, Joanna says, was important in helping them to deal with the trauma of diagnosis and treatment in a way that reflected their identity as a family. “We are a creative family; my son has been in many films and my husband is a cinematographer and sculptor. We designed the Big Breast together, and the whole project was a way to heal through creativity.”
Colleagues in BSMS are keen to develop the ‘My Breasts, My Story’ partnership, potentially through the development of conversation guides for clinicians, medical students and breast cancer patients to build empathetic dialogue and mutual understanding of what recovery means for each patient. There are also plans to tour the Big Breast, using immersive play to create dialogues within communities where participation in breast cancer screening is low, and to raise awareness of cancer gene variants.
The power of joyful, playful absurdity runs through Joanna’s practice – breaking taboos, provoking new conversations and offering fresh perspectives on recovery. As Joanna observes, “I think laughter is very powerful, perhaps more so than tears – because it is active, pleasurable and life-affirming. It encourages openness and is a way for people to connect.”
Professor Joanna Callaghan is an artist filmmaker and Professor of Filmmaking in the School of Media, Arts and Humanities.
An exhibition of the Big Breast alongside a series of creative activities and talks will take place from 24-29 October 2023 at South East Dance Space, Brighton. For more information visit Joanna's website