Going Flat is a term used in the cancer community that means choosing to opt out of reconstruction surgery after a mastectomy. Many women I talked to while working on this project described the experience as traumatic. Society, doctors, friends and family don't fully understand the choice, but for many it's the obvious one. Going flat allows for quicker recovery after months of cancer treatments. It also lowers the risk of more complications, loss of muscle strength, and keeps foreign objects out of the body. The process of learning to love and accept the new bodies women choose to live with can be a difficult one. My hope with this project was to prove that living flat is not only beautiful, it represents so much strength.
