Madrid exhibition shines a light on the scars of breast cancer

Record ID: 1693872

  • Title: Madrid exhibition shines a light on the scars of breast cancer
  • Date: 19th October 2022
  • Summary: MADRID, SPAIN (October 19, 2022) (REUTERS) VISITOR TAKING PICTURE OF VERSIONS OF PAINTING OF THE NAKED MAJA BY FRANCISCO DE GOYA SHOWING THE FEMALE SUBJECT OF THE PAINTING WITH A MASECTOMY SCAR VARIOUS OF A VERSION OF THE NAKED MAJA WITH A MASECTOMY SCAR ON DISPLAY THE NAKED MAJA WITH A MASECTOMY SCAR / THE VENUS AND CUPID BY PETER PAUL RUBENS WITH A MASECTOMY SCAR ON DISPLAY WOMAN STANDING NEXT TO PAINTING OF ALTERED VENUS AND CUPID BY PETER PAUL RUBENS WITH A MASECTOMY SCAR THE VENUS AND CUPID BY PETER PAUL RUBENS WITH A MASECTOMY SCAR ON DISPLAY VARIOUS OF ARCHITECT WHO UNDERWENT MASECTOMY, GEMA SALAS, WEARING A PULLOVER READING (Spanish) “PROUD OF MY SCARS” STANDING NEXT TO VERSION OF THE VENUS AND CUPID WITH A MASECTOMY SCAR (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ARCHITECT WHO UNDERWENT A MASECTOMY TO TREAT BREAST CANCER, GEMA SALAS, 44, SAYING: “The first thing I looked for was where the scar was and then I got closer and said 'she is beautiful', something that I don’t say even about myself. She is beautiful and it had an impact on me, because after the illness it was a way of empowerment. You dress up sexy, you look beautiful, look at yourself naked. It is somehow like getting born again. To me the picture represents your rebirth as a woman after the treatment, when you feel a bit lost. The scar doesn’t make you less of a woman.” VARIOUS OF THE VENUS AND CUPID WITH A MASECTOMY SCAR (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ARCHITECT WHO UNDERWENT A MASECTOMY TO TREAT BREAST CANCER, GEMA SALAS, 44, SAYING: “Children, teenagers and the elderly have to be aware of this, you feel like you won’t be affected so when you get the illness you say 'why me?'. People should not see it as something strange. A colleague wanted to do an exhibition in a high school with drawings of us, some with one nipple, some with a mastectomy, some with a small scar on the chest and they told her that she better not. I think we have to do exactly the opposite, we have to show it, it is not a bad thing and one out of eight women suffered from it.” EXHIBITION VARIOUS OF VISITOR TAKING PHOTO (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST FROM AMERICA AND BREAST CANCER PATIENT, IRMA MARTINEZ, 55, SAYING: “Well, actually I wasn’t expecting it. Is it a shock? It is a surprise and it is hitting a little bit close to home. In Spain I’m kind of celebrating that I just finished treatment for cancel myself. I was not expecting this.” VARIOUS OF THE NAKED MAJA WITH A MASECTOMY SCAR (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST FROM AMERICA AND BREAST CANCER PATIENT, IRMA MARTINEZ, 55, SAYING: “You know, actually when I got the diagnosis I said 'well, maybe I’m going to get a total mastectomy, fine, it is what it is'. My being is inside this body and I’m just going through whatever treatment I have to go just to keep myself in this body. I would go and get through it. This is kind of honouring (that) and that there is no shame on this. So what? That's it, she got breast cancer.” EXHIBITION VARIOUS OF THE VENUS AND CUPID WITH A MASECTOMY SCAR (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CULTURA EN VENA FOUNDATION DIRECTOR, JUAN ALBERTO GARCIA DE CUBAS, SAYING: “We have done the exhibition to mark International Breast Cancer Day, an exhibition named 'From the skin to the canvas: another take on breast cancer', where we have performed digital surgical interventions on three great paintings in history, Adam And Eve By Hans Baldung Grien, The Venus and Cupid By Rubens and The Naked Maja by Goya. The three are exact replicas where the breasts have been digitally modified to look like they have undergone a mastectomy. With these interventions we pay attention to the process of the illness, small cancers but also mastectomy, female cancer but also male cancer because Adam has also been mastectomised.“ VARIOUS OF VERSION OF ADAM AND EVE BY HANS BALDUNG GRIEN WITH BOTH FIGURES BEARING SCARS OF A MASECTOMY
  • Embargoed: 2nd November 2022 14:02
  • Keywords: Thyssen museum breast cancer exhibition
  • Location: MADRID, SPAIN
  • City: MADRID, SPAIN
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe
  • Reuters ID: LVA001334419102022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: An art exhibition in Madrid seeks to shine a spotlight on breast cancer and the physical and psychological scars left by mastectomies.
    The exhibition at the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum of Art, titled "From the skin to the canvas: another take on breast cancer", features digital copies of works by Francisco de Goya, Peter Paul Rubens and Hans Baldung Grien which have been altered to make it look like the nude subjects have undergone mastectomies.
    Gema Salas, a 44-year-old architect who underwent a mastectomy to treat breast cancer, said the exhibition had a profound effect on her.
    Women who undergo mastecomies often have to learn how to love themselves and their bodies again, Salas said.
    "To me the picture represents your rebirth as a woman after the treatment, when you feel a bit lost. The scar doesn’t make you less of a woman,” she added.
    Juan Alberto Garcia de Cubas, president of the Fundacion Cultura en Vena (Culture in Your Veins Foundation), said the exhibition was an intervention to raise awareness of the illness.
    As part of the show, Cultura en Vena filmed a video of Goya's The Naked Maja being taken to a hospital in an ambulance, where the painting undergoes "surgery" as a team of artists paint a scar over her left breast. The work of art is then moved by ambulance to the museum and hung on the wall.
    (Production: Marco Trujillo, Silvio Castellanos, Charlie Devereux.)
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