S C A R S
“In 2015 I read a comment from a lady on one of my beard posts and went onto her Instagram page to discover that she had had a double mastectomy at the age of 23. She was in the midst of chemo, had a buzzcut. I sent her a direct message to say if she was ever in London I would like to offer her a portrait, she replied “If you do a portrait series on scars I’ll be your first subject?!”
In April 2019 I was out in New York on a job and the clients kindly allowed her to come in to meet me for the first time and shoot her portrait series for SCARS.
— Brock Elbank
ELIZABETH SOFFE
VERONICA PLEBANI
TONY HUGNELL
IESHA PALMER
DANIEL SWEIG
LUCY BLOOM
AXEL SCHYOLSTRÖM
LIZ FIESER
ALTHEA PATTERSON
DEREK OWUSU
KORREN KNAPP-GRADA
BEAU ZANCA
“Doing the Scars series has been fascinating and most humbling. What I have really learned most of is that the human body is an incredibly resilient, as is the mind when focused. Also all the medical staff are creative in so many ways, performing world changing procedures for the greater good.”
M A R G A R E T C O L E - T H E R E A S O N F O R S C A R S S E R I E S
‘Elizabeth had never before had her portrait taken and bringing her to see Brock made me really apprehensive. What would he say to her? What would the portrait look like? Would he want her to look sad and miserable as so many photographers do? I needn’t have worried. Brock was incredibly welcoming and warm and put Elizabeth, and me, at ease immediately. He was able to develop an instant rapport with Elizabeth and this led to the amazing photos he took of her.
The photographs he took are among our favourites. In the portraits she is the way we see her and the magic of his work allows others to see her as we do. Not as a victim but as a strong, happy, beautiful, confident human. A survivor. A whirlwind. Miss Cheeky Pants!!!!
Whilst many see her scars before seeing her, in these portraits her personality is front and centre and impossible to miss.’
Sinead UK