St. Mildred’s and PhotoSensitive utilize photography for cancer awareness

Aug. 11, 2010 - PRLog -- St. Mildred’s-Lightbourn School, an independent school for girls located in Oakville, Ontario, is pleased to announce that it has recently collaborated with PhotoSensitive’s Cancer Connections project, a touring exhibition that promotes cancer awareness. Not only is the school playing a large role in encouraging participation in the exhibition from other independent schools across Canada, but one of its students, Maddie Goodall, has had her photograph accepted to tour across Canada with the exhibition.  

St. Mildred’s has reached out to the Canadian Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) and the Conference of Independent Schools of Ontario (CIS) to encourage students to participate by making a submission to the exhibition.
The project, presented by PhotoSensitive in partnership with the Canadian Cancer Society, is a large-scale black and white photographic exhibition depicting Canadians’ experiences with cancer.

St. Mildred’s-Lightbourn School decided to partner with PhotoSensitive to raise awareness about the project in the independent school community. The school has written a letter to the CAIS community to encourage submissions on behalf of the schools and individual students to help raise cancer awareness.
The exhibition travels across the country to engage Canadians in conversations about cancer, in turn raising awareness about the disease. This project marks the first time that PhotoSensitive is accepting submissions from both professional photographers and the general public.

"SMLS is very excited to invite CAIS and CIS students from across Canada to join the Cancer Connections National Photography Exhibition,” says Karen Dyne, Director of Arts at St. Mildred's. “It is a wonderful opportunity for student photographers to join professional photographers to help bring public awareness to one of the most important challenges facing society today."

Maddie Goodall, who is a Grade 12 student at St. Mildred’s-Lightbourn School, recently joined the Cancer Connections exhibition through the school’s work study program. Maddie has aspirations of pursuing a career in photography, and is joining the exhibition after taking photos of a number of her subjects. She presented six photographic submissions in total, which can be viewed on the Cancer Connections website – photosensitive.com/cc – by entering “Goodall” in the search bar.

“Through the one-month work study program offered at St. Mildred's, I had the opportunity to work in the area of study I'm hoping to pursue in university,” says Goodall. “Working with Cancer Connections gave me the chance to gain valuable experience while participating in a very worthwhile project.”

The Cancer Connections exhibit is displayed in an open-air, public space to allow visitors to see the show for free and to maximize the number of people who see it.
“Cancer Connections invites Canadians to tell their story of living with cancer through the power of black and white photography,” says Andrew Stawicki, cofounder of PhotoSensitive. “This sharing of images is a catalyst for engaging and connecting Canadians in conversations about cancer.”

The statistics show that two in five Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, and many others are affected by the disease, whether personally or though a friend, relative or acquaintance. Cancer Connections’ photographic subjects include family members, those who have lost loved ones to the disease, and those who are helping to fight the disease – including doctors, nurses, volunteers and research scientists.
Both professional photographers and the general public can submit their portraits to Cancer Connections to become a part of the exhibition.

After debuting in Toronto in May 2008 with 300 images, Cancer Connections has exhibited in Montreal and Charlottetown. Now, with almost 500 images, Cancer Connections will showcase its exhibition in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland throughout September and October. The tour will continue in 2010, travelling to Vancouver, British Columbia; Calgary, Alberta; and Ottawa, Ontario.

In addition to partnering with the Canadian Cancer Society and St. Mildred’s-Lightbourn School for the Cancer Connections project, Chase Canada is the presenting sponsor for PhotoSensitive.


http://www.smls.on.ca/

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