Over the past winter, teen participants in Angel Foundation’s Teen Outreach program were trained by Minneapolis-based photographer, Scott Streble, on techniques to help them share their stories through pictures and words.  The seven-week project resulted in powerful photos expressing the many emotions and experiences the teens faced when dealing with a parental cancer diagnosis.  One of the teens, Montana, whose mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2011, shared her thoughts on the program.

Montana had admired how the project brought the teens together and helped them all cope with their situations.  Her photo, full of hopeful words such as “life”, “live”, and “loud”, expressed messages such as “you only live once” and “live each moment to its fullest.”  Overall, she wanted to symbolize the total cancer experience, while sometimes scary, can be something you can pull through and that even when you go through the bad, you can still fin d the good.  That message shines with the words on her photo: “Cancer is like a flower.  Sometimes you have to push through the dirt and grime, but in the end you have something beautiful.”

Montana’s photo is an excellent representation of the strength and resilience shared by all the teens in the Teen Outreach program. All of the photos taken by the teens are on display along the walls of the Angel Foundation office which we encourage visitors to see.  They can also be viewed in our online exhibit:  https://mnangel.org/teenoutreachphotoexhibit

A set of notecards from the exhibit is available for purchase through Angel Foundation’s online store https://mnangel.org/store/item/23 or by calling 612.627.9000. Cost is $10 per set. All proceeds fund Angel Foundation programs.

By Sam Wroge, Angel Foundation intern