‘SHINING WOMAN #cancerbeauty’ by Hideka Tonomura

In 2019, photographer Hideka Tonomura embarked on the SHINING WOMAN #cancerbeauty project, in which she takes portraits of women living with cancer. The photographer travelled across Japan to meet women who had contacted her via the Instagram account for the project. Some of these portraits were compiled in a book published by Zen Foto Gallery in 2020 as part of an exhibition.

Born in Kobe in 1979, Tonomura has developed a body of work exploring women’s lives, experiences and place in society. Her work has since gained recognition beyond Japan.

Life & Soul

After being diagnosed with cervical cancer, Hideka Tonomura’s outlook darkened as she feared losing this organ. During her time in hospital, she met women whose inner radiance and inherent human beauty profoundly affected her. These encounters inspired her to start the project.

What moved Tonomura was not the idea that these women continued to shine despite losing their uterus, breasts or hair. Rather, she perceived a beauty that was not determined by the presence or absence of any part of the body: the inherent beauty of a human being, the beauty at the core of a person’s life, and the radiance of life emanating from within.

The photographs are divided into three different categories. Portraits of Life, taken in a digital format, shows the everyday, current existence of these women. The other two are composed of images developed in a darkroom: Proof of Life represents objects that are important to the women, connected to their new life, and Portraits of the Soul contains more poignant images that are marked by a sense of both life and death.

The women featured here are not models but rather participants who wanted their voices to be heard and to convey the idea that beauty is not determined by the presence or absence of any particular part of the body.

SHINING WOMAN #cancerbeauty (2020), a book of photographs by Hideka Tonomura, is published by Zen Foto Gallery.