Ontario-based fashion photographer, Ian Pettigrew, was working on a photo project for a book called 'Just Breathe' that featured adults with Cystic Fibrosis. When he noticed that there were far more women being featured in this project, he decided that he wanted to esteem them by showing off their incredible strength and beauty.
Cystic Fibrosis is certainly not easy to cope with; it's a life-threatening genetic disease which causes extreme damage in the lungs and digestive tract. Many people with Cystic Fibrosis end up needing a double-lung transplant, so many of the women you will see in the images below bare large scars on their chests and ribs. These scars represent their struggle, their pain, and most importantly, their strength and perseverance. Despite everything they have been through, these women exude an incredible sense of being grounded and confident, making them just that much more beautiful.
Pettigrew named the series "Salty Girls: The Women Of Cystic Fibrosis" because extremely salty sweat and skin are a very common side-effect of cystic fibrosis, and a 'sweat test' is often used to diagnose the disease.
These are the type of women you would never see in a fashion magazine because of their physical "flaws," but if you ask me, these women are far more beautiful because of their imperfections. They not only show off some incredible smiles and styles, but by showing off their scars with pride, they remind us all that it's okay to love the aspects of ourselves that make us different.
Many of these foxy ladies let their vibrant personalities shine during their shoot to prove that disease doesn't have to put a dark cloud on your spirits.
But most importantly, these women are showing that they have reclaimed their bodies from a long battle with disease. Cystic Fibrosis has shaped their lives, but it simply does not and cannot define them. These are beautiful, confident, and ridiculously strong individuals who know just how amazing their bodies are.
Quoted anonymously on Pettigrew's website, one of the models explains of her experience with Cystic Fibrosis: "To me, being one of the Salty Girls is a statement of confidence. It tends to be more difficult to be comfortable with your body as a female when you have lots of medical scarring and foreign objects implanted in you. I personally have had a major abdominal surgery, as well as three different port a caths placed in my chest. A port a cath is not something you see every day, and it looks kind of strange, sort of like a bottle cap has been implanted under your skin. It’s harder to accept oneself as attractive when the perfection you see portrayed every day is nowhere near what your medically scarred body looks like. Salty Girls helps those of us who don’t look “normally” attractive to embrace our bodies, scars and all, and feel good about ourselves."If you enjoyed this photo series, make sure to check out Pettigrew's book 'Salty Girls: The Women Of Cystic Fibrosis.'What do you think of Pettigrew's photo series? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Share
Tweet
