This year Marie, our fearless leader, is celebrating 10 years of capturing precious memories for Australian families by taking 12 months off work. She and her husband Andrew have two young daughters, a thriving business and a busy family life but her sense of gratitude has compelled her to give back to the community during this 12-month sabbatical.
After following the story of brother Samuel and sister Connie Johnson, Marie feels passionate about helping the sibling’s Love Your Sister charity reach even higher fundraising targets by contributing with her own unique idea. This year Marie, our fearless leader, is celebrating 10 years of capturing precious memories for Australian families by taking 12 months off work. She and her husband Andrew have two young daughters, a thriving business and a busy family life but her sense of gratitude has compelled her to give back to the community during this 12-month sabbatical.
Marie’s plan features the artisanal craft of clay imprinting – one of the services pioneered by her business. Imagine 2000 individual handcrafted love hearts, shaped by the positioning of two fingerprints on small clay squares. These squares will unite to create a 7m x 3m art installation, the heart of which will shine with Connie and Sam’s imprints, symbolising the love shared between the siblings. Their prints will be surrounded by those of their family, friends and the village of supporters who wish to see cancer gone for good.
Each fingerprint heart is a donation of $50. Marie’s year-long project aims to raise $100,000 for Love Your Sister. Marie hopes the artwork will be on permanent display at Sydney’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research.
“The artwork has so many layers of meaning, it symbolises love on many levels,” says Marie. “I’m excited to bring this idea to life for Connie and Sam, but also for all the people in the community who share my passion about raising awareness about breast cancer.”
Connie Johnson is an inspiring 35-year-old mother of two boys. She’s fighting her third cancer battle. After overcoming a bone tumour in her leg at age 11, Connie beat another tumour in her womb at age 22, both with the help of early detection and treatment.
This time Connie has breast cancer, which has spread to her lungs, liver, pelvis, spine and knee. Sadly she has a life expectancy of six-12 months. Marie shares in Connie and Samuel’s persistence to raise breast cancer awareness. Early detection is the key to survival and Connie wants everyone to know it. In 2014, Samuel set a new Guinness World Record for the most distance travelled on a unicycle by raising over $1.8 million after travelling 15,955km over 364 days.
“I want to celebrate our 10-year anniversary by giving back to the community and Love Your Sister has expressed how grateful they are as they rely heavily on fundraising initiatives by community members who donate to the cause. I guess you could call it the ultimate form of gratitude for all the support our business has received over the past decade,” explains Marie.
For more information about how to join project, visit www.marieramosphotography.com.