Morning Source
Guest: Keep a Breast Exhibit
Originally Aired: September 24, 2020
Morning Source with Donna Vissman talks with Aspen Luier and Lauren Branson who took part in the Keep a Breast Exhibit.
About the Keep a Breast Exhibit
The exhibit includes artist-decorated breast casts of over six-dozen Nashville/Franklin women will be exhibited and sold via a virtual auction taking place throughout the month of October. The Keep A Breast Nashville Breast Cast Exhibit & Auction coincides with Breast Cancer Awareness Month and benefits the event’s organizers, the Keep A Breast Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes breast cancer education, support and advocacy aimed at young people.
KAB’s Nashville Breast Cast collection features the casts of local breast cancer survivors, as well as artists, musicians, activists, politicians, small business owners and influencers. Among the 87 busts are musicians Mickey Guyton, Cam and Margo Price;chef Julia Sullivan, activist Fiona Prine; model Karen Elson; and former Nashville mayor Megan Barry. Once they were cast, each of the Nashville participants were asked to select a visual artist to decorate their cast. Enlisted artists include Herakut, Hunt Slonem, Logan Hicks, Trevor Mikula, Phillip Sweet, and Vadis Turner.
The exhibit opened on Friday, October 2 and runs through Oct 31, at Riverside Revival, owned and operated by the Boedecker Foundation. The building is located at 1600 Riverside Drive in East Nashville. Admission is free and open to the public daily from 11 AM until 5:30 PM daily.
The virtual public auction will be held on Charity Buzz and is open until Wednesday, October 28. Bidding information will be available soon at www.keep-a-breast.com.
“The women in the exhibit are strong, fierce and empowering individuals,” says Shaney jo Darden, founder and global chief creative officer of the KAB Foundation. “The casts are a visual representation that all bodies are beautiful. Through art, we are able to communicate complex feelings and emotions about a very serious topic and engage a community in self-care and activism.”
Nashville is the 20th international city to host a KAB breast cast event. Over 1,000 casts have been sold during benefit auctions in cities including Paris, Mexico City, São Paulo, Los Angeles and London, raising over $500,000 for the California-based group, which provides young people with breast health education and support.
“Our goal as an organization is to promote accessible breast health and prevention for all people,” Darden says. “We know that breast cancer disproportionately impacts Black people and we’re committed to being better at making the breast cancer space more inclusive in the immediate and long-term future.”
To this end, KAB will designate $5,000 from the sales of the Nashville breast cast project to fund the group’s G ive Back Grants, which directly support Tennessee BIPOC women who are breast cancer survivors or have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Women who are Tennessee residents are encouraged to apply for one of the ten $500 grants, which can be used to pay for medical treatment, alternative care, or personal and business expenses.
The Keep A Breast Nashville Breast Cast Exhibit & Auction is kindly sponsored by the Boedecker Foundation, Avantstay, Obvi, RAEN, Graduate Hotels, Hecate Energy, Studio Bank, Clary Collection, Arrington Vineyards and BMI.
Further details about the auction and virtual event available soon at www.keep-a-breast.org.
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Morning Source is your Williamson County morning show hosted by Donna Vissman, bringing you news from the area and interviews with community members. Morning Source is live on our Facebook Page Monday through Friday!
