The Grace Project

09/03/2026

If you are anywhere near New York City, buy a ticket to the Cancer Culture Fashion Show during New York Fashion Week.
I have attended this show every year, and I would not miss it for the world. As someone who has spent nearly two decades creating empowering images of people affected by breast cancer, I can tell you that this is one of the most beautiful, powerful and profoundly moving events I have ever witnessed.
If you are a breast cancer survivor or thriver, witnessing this show may genuinely change your life.
To see bodies transformed by breast cancer taking over a New York Fashion Week runway with such joy, beauty and absolute ownership is extraordinary. This is not about concealing what cancer has done. It is about being seen, honoring those who are here and those we have lost, and taking back the narrative.
The show also has a vital purpose. Every dollar raised through ticket sales supports Cancer Culture and its work funding research for metastatic breast cancer, the only breast cancer that kills. Metastatic breast cancer receives far too little research funding, and Cancer Culture is fiercely committed to changing that.
The fashion show takes place on the afternoon of Sunday, September 13.
The day before, on Saturday, September 12, Cancer Culture will hold a protest in Times Square to demand greater awareness and research funding for metastatic breast cancer.
If you have metastatic breast cancer, if you were diagnosed at an earlier stage, if someone you love has faced this disease, if you are a man living with breast cancer, or if you simply believe that every person affected by breast cancer deserves support and a cure, please consider joining us.
Come to the protest. Come to the show. Buy a ticket and witness something unforgettable.
If you cannot be there in person, you can still be part of this. The ticket page also includes an option to donate directly to metastatic breast cancer research.
Please attend if you can. Please donate if you cannot. And please share this post so more people understand why this matters. https://www.cancerculture.org/events

08/02/2026

Happy International Sisters Day.
Some sisters share DNA.
Others share scars.
They also share tears, laughter, long conversations, difficult truths, and the gift of being understood without explanation.
When you find your sisters... you've found another piece of your own heart.
To my Flat Out Love family, thank you for reminding me that The family you choose can be every bit as powerful as the one we're born into.
Happy International Sisters Day. I love you all. 💗

06/19/2026

Today we honor Juneteenth.
A day that commemorates freedom, resilience, and the enduring pursuit of justice.
Freedom is not only a moment in history, but the ability to stand fully in one's humanity. To be seen, valued and to take up space and live with dignity.
This portrait is a reminder that when we live authentically, joy cannot be diminished, nor strength erased.
May we continue the work of building a world where freedom, equality, and belonging are realities for all.

06/01/2026

Love is not diminished by scars.
These two women are married. They have walked through breast cancer together, honoring the promise of "in sickness and in health." Through fear, uncertainty, healing, and hope, they have continued to choose each other every day.
Pride is often celebrated through visibility, which is itself an act of courage. To be seen and accepted as you are... to love and be loved... is one of the most fundamental expressions of our shared humanity.
Our scars tell stories, but they do not define our worth. This portrait speaks to tenderness, resilience, devotion, and that quiet strength that comes from being deeply loved.
This Pride Month, I honor every LGBTQ+ person whose journey has included illness, loss, healing, caregiving, and survival. Your stories matter. Your love matters. Your bodies deserve respect. And your lives deserve to be seen.
Happy Pride Month. ❤️🏳️‍🌈

05/25/2026

Here are the words of my dear friend Kim deceased . "In my prime, I carried an M-16 perilously close to the east and west German border, waiting for the cold war to warm up. Let’s double down on this: do some research and find out the ratio of women to men in the United States army in the early to late 80s. Also do some research and see what sorts of jobs were open to us! You’re fu***ng welcome.
In my prime, I chased bad guys, caught them, and took them to jail. In my prime, I helped to save a man’s life after he drowned.  In my prime, I pedaled my Trek through miles of dirty and muddy trails, fell and cracked some ribs, then kept on riding. In my prime, I went back to work three weeks after having a breast amputated due to cancer. in my prime, I hiked 26 miles through the New Mexico desert. (Lisa, Darin). In my prime, I walked for three days during a tropical depression in Georgia to raise money for breast cancer research (Tiffanie). In my prime, I tried to hike part of the Appalachian trail.  in my prime, I loved hard, I lost hard, and I was brave enough to love again. To be clear, I was a bad ass and I’m proud of that. To be even clearer, I’m still a bad ass…. just a different kind.
In this prime, I remain optimistic and joyful in the face of my impending death,  a death that will come much sooner than I would prefer.  In this prime, I find beauty in everything. I find joy and peace in seemingly nothing.  In this prime,  I hug more often, and I express my love to people more often and more willingly.

In this prime, I look forward to trying an experimental drug that might extend others’ lives.  In this prime, I try very hard to be brave, while also understanding that bravery can come with tears. In this prime, I think about death with curiosity, not fear.
In this prime I’ve learned that being a badass is easy….just be authentic and don’t be an as***le for no good reason.I’ll always be a badass, and I’ll always be in my prime." - Kim Bowerman, 1964 - 2023

05/22/2026

When your body feels unfamiliar,
When pain, scars, exhaustion, and fear make you feel disconnected,
go gently toward the things that still know how to hold you.
Lean against a tree and remember that strength does not always look unbroken.
Sit beside a river and let it remind you that even troubled waters keep moving forward.
Let the wind speak your name softly back to you, as if the earth itself is reminding you that you are still here, still worthy, still beautiful.
Nature does not ask us to be perfect to belong.
The trees do not bloom without weathering storms.
The river does not apologize for its currents.
And you do not need to earn peace through suffering.
Breathe deeply.
Trust that healing is not only found in medicine, but also in sunlight on your skin, wind through your hair, bare feet on the earth, and moments of stillness where your spirit can finally exhale.
Your body has carried you through so much.
Speak to it with tenderness.

05/18/2026

One of my photographs was recently selected for the next round of judging at the National Portrait Gallery as part of the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize.
Chosen from more than 70,000 portraits submitted from around the world, it has now advanced to the next stage of judging… and I am still trying to wrap my head around that.
Meanwhile… my nonprofit bank account is nearly empty.
That strange contradiction is the reality for many artists doing long-term social documentary work.
For more than 15 years, The Grace Project has created portraits honoring survival, scars, illness, resilience, and human dignity. No participant is ever charged to be photographed.
If this work has ever moved you, inspired you, or made you feel seen, I would be deeply grateful for support as I head into another year around the sun. (birthday month incoming!!).
Every donation helps keep the cameras rolling, the prints being made, and these stories preserved.
Thank you for helping me protect this archive of humanity.
With love and gratitude,
Charise Isis

Send a message to learn more

05/01/2026

NO PANTS DAY…
A day to take up space
and be witnessed without apology.
Our bodies are beautiful.
Own it.

04/28/2026

Grace project portrait featured in SHOTS Magazine.

04/17/2026

I donated a piece to the New York Foundation for the Arts Hall of Fame Auction this year…
If you’ve ever wanted to collect my work, this is a really meaningful way to do it.
NYFA has played an integral role in the life of The Grace Project. I was part of their fiscal sponsorship program early on (before the project became its own nonprofit), that support helped me build something that now holds the portraits of well over 1000 individuals. I also received a NYFA artist grant in 2022, which I used to purchase the camera I still use today to create all of these portraits.
NYFA supports artists in tangible ways… funding, mentorship, infrastructure… things that actually allow meaningful work to exist in the world.
Supporting NYFA in their mission is about sustaining a creative ecosystem that makes projects like mine possible.
If this photograph speaks to you, I would love for it to land with someone in this community.
It would also live beautifully in a doctor’s office, healing space… or in a collection or home that embraces beauty and vulnerability as inseparable.
Bid here:
https://event.auctria.com/350d2155-8910-4177-bf76-cf29cb6c8940/a780d600ec2e11e9ae081db830846aa5?2bd25550ec3411e9ae081db830846aa5%2FselectedItem=69903ff5-ca6d-4250-9327-d93e9ce09750