A Picture Worth

BY FRANCESCA HALIKIAS

According to Merriam Webster, “resilience” is the “ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.” With the help of his wife, Nicole, photographer Ramzi Mansour created a book of the same name, exploring the many ways in which a cancer diagnosis can both devastate and inspire, take strength away but restore it anew.

“My father had cancer when I was young, and I will never forget the toll it took on my family,” explains Mansour. “It was one of the most terrible times in my life as a young boy, and one that made me grow up very quickly.” The book, which features the stories of 42 women, gives firsthand accounts of their unique cancer journeys, through diagnosis and treatment, as well as what inspired them to keep going despite it all. Each portrait is in Mansour’s signature black-and-white style and accompanied with interviews conducted by his wife, Nicole.

Mansour wasn’t always a photographer. Before he was behind the lens, he was a businessman. After the birth of his second child and his family’s international move, he decided to play around with one of his passions: photography. He bought his first camera and started taking pictures of his family and friends, and one of those shots ended up at a modeling agency. The agency asked if Mansour would be willing to take more pictures, and the rest is history. The more time Mansour spent with his camera, the more he learned about himself. “I started looking at pictures and people in a different light,” he says. “For me, taking someone’s photograph signifies a moment in time in that person’s life that will be remembered forever. This inspired me to create pictures that tell stories of how I view the subjects using my camera.”

After shooting the cover image for a magazine publication centered around South Africa’s Cancer Awareness Month, Mansour quickly realized he could combine his black-and-white portraiture with his desire to tell a meaningful story. “That was how the concept of our book, ‘Resilience,’ was born,” Mansour says. “We wanted to present a raw and authentic insight into the experiences of South African women as they journeyed with cancer.”

Nicole was the one to convince Mansour to embark on the “Resilience” journey, using her background in journalism to conduct interviews with all 42 women featured in the book. “It was [Nicole’s] ability to truly connect with each person and to create a safe space that allowed them to be vulnerable and authentic,” Mansour says.

With the interviews and photoshoots taking place at the height of COVID-19, both Mansour and his wife had to take extra precautions and handle each profile separately. They needed to be cognizant of each woman’s physical capabilities, as well as emotional well-being. Over 2,000 hours were spent on the project, and 2,500 free copies of “Resilience” were sent to cancer wards and hospitals around the world, with over 300,000 downloads of the e-book. Mansour’s mission of using his talent to touch others in a meaningful way is well on its way to completion.

Each story in “Resilience” shows a unique viewpoint on cancer and the many ways it can impact an individual’s life — making them want to run, cry, hide, fight and live each day as if it were their last. Mansour wanted the