Atlanta artist's collection aims to create year-round breast cancer awareness

ATLANTA - As Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, an Atlanta-area artist has created a campaign that she hopes will promote year-round breast cancer consciousness and fund charities that help women overcome the disease.

Cancer is scary at any age, but for Bobbi Strauss, it was especially isolating. She was diagnosed as a teenager in the 1950s when the world knew so little about the disease. After decades of keeping her breast cancer victory a secret, her daughter now helps share her survival story.

"Even at age of 56, there’s nothing like hearing your mom say how proud she is of you," Amy Wynne Rees said.

Sometimes, in this life, we help our mothers become proud of themselves.

"I feel like I’m helping her become comfortable with this part of herself that she’s been so uncomfortable with," she said with colorful kitchenware on display behind her.

Bobbi Strauss, an Atlanta area artist, is trying to make breast cancer awareness a year-round affair. (FOX 5)

The dishes are more than just playful ways to plate a meal.

"Sisters in pink is about breast cancer awareness," Wynee Rees said.

It’s the second collection of the local artist’s "personality plates." This time, 10% of the proceeds go to an organization called "It’s the Journey."

"It gives grants to different nonprofits," Wynne Rees said. "There are different ways for women to get financial aid and support when they get diagnosed."

"Sisters in Pink" is a personal passion project. Rees’ mother’s story started in the ‘50s when she was first diagnosed as a teenager.

"You are never too young to be diagnosed with breast cancer. In the 1950s, it was a major taboo. She did not even tell her mom about it until she was really scared," she said.

Bobbi Strauss, an Atlanta area artist, is trying to make breast cancer awareness a year-round affair. (FOX 5)

A mastectomy saved her life, but still, she felt undone.

"She was waking up to photographers like she was a science experiment and not an 18-year-old girl," she said. "She felt like she’d have to miss out on normal, husband, children."

Strauss went on to experience the life and family she always dreamed of. Now that her daughter has created such a public cause decades after her traumatic experience, Stauss realizes just how resilient she is.

Wynne-Rees says she hopes every time people set out these plates, women remember they’re never too young to get their annual mammograms. She’s also working on other projects that will give back to charities that help support and uplift women.

For more information about "Sisters in Pink," click here.