Fighting Sarcoma: The Jodi-Ann Project

March 19, 2017

I’m back! My first blog for 2017 is finally here.

2016 was a rough year for me on so many levels but by the end of it I was reminded of why I needed to continue fighting, why I needed to keep doing what I do daily.

It all started when Dominique ”Ladybug MUA” Mitchell contacted me to do a cancer portrait collaboration with her. Her past schoolmate Jodi-Ann is battling Sarcoma and throughout this process thus far she has lost a leg and her hair during cancer treatment. Contrasting my previous breast cancer project, she wanted to go for a beauty editorial look to highlight just how beautiful she still was regardless of the physical changes. Carrying out this project was important to me as the reasons I started doing portraiture in 2014, was to evoke change in others, spread awareness and transform lives. Dominique (who doubled as Creative Director and Make-Up Artist on set, a role she’s no stranger to) and I spoke a few times and ran over the mood, make-up, location(studio vs outdoors) and final look (that’s how Julianne “Juju” Walker joined the team, as fashion designer after). Thereafter I contacted Darien Robertson for us to disturb what could have been a calm Boxing Day so we could turn in his home into a make-shift studio and also to assist me with lighting.

Also shout out to one of the best Jamaican retouchers out there Mikhail Jathan for the awesome retouching skills. I don’t know how it slipped me to thank you in the making of the videos.

Fun fact: On the day of the shoot it turned out that I was the only person on set that didn’t attend Ardenne High School… #STGC4LIFE

Honestly it was a great day filled with laughter, good vibes and the execution of amazing imagery. To make the blogging experience more interactive, easier and to reduce the amount of reading, a 3 part video with words and visuals from Jodi-Ann, Dominique, Juju and I can be viewed below. I do hope you enjoy and that the stories, the imagery and the knowledge that you will leave with will impact the way you walk, talk and think on a daily basis and also your outlook on crisis management.