Margo Ramirez   

Having worked in the beauty industry for the past decade, I always looked at make up as a means of feeding the female vanity.  The need to feel beautiful and attractive as we walk the walk of life, gives women confidence and makes them feel accepted. 

 

The beauty industry can be perceived as shallow and self-indulgent; it wasn’t until one day I watched my 79-year-old mother who was undergoing chemo treatment find the energy to put on her make-up. Weak, ill and lethargic I watched her carefully go through her make-up bag, stare in the mirror and search for the healthy woman she once was.  At that very moment something changed as I no longer looked at make-up or wigs as vain and superficial but as a tool, a super hero’s shield that empowered my sick mother to find her fight. 

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Battling Beautifully and Boldly is a collection of images that documents strength, empowerment and hope.  With every brush stroke to the cheek or gloss on the lips these strong courageous women find their will to live and overcome.  When they reclaim a little sense of self and honor the healthy person they use to be by placing their wigs and adding color to their face, cancer is no longer a thief, cancer is an opponent that they will try defeat.