Aubrey Burts, Palmer (Photo by Mary Katzke for "Alaskans in Pink") Kori Lane, Juneau (Photo by Mark Daughetee for "Alaskans in Pink") Alisa Gilbert, Anchorage (Photo by Richard Murphy for "Alaskans in Pink") Sudi Saunders, Anchorage (Photo by Anne Raup for "Alaskans in Pink") Shelley Coolidge, Anchorage (Photo by Clark Mishler for "Alaskans in Pink") Click on photo to enlarge

In a photography exhibit dedicated to breast cancer, it's a little startling to be standing before a portrait, staring into the eyes of a 10-year-old boy.

Kori Lane is the grandson of Juneau resident Sylvia Montero, who's been battling breast cancer since before he was born. More than anyone, this child has given her heart.

"My grandson and I are inseparable," Montero wrote beneath his portrait. "He reaches high for me, bends down low, runs things here and there, and pulls the vacuum cleaner cord for me. When I don't have the energy to do anything but lie down, he is beside me. ... He is my joy, my reason to keep fighting."

This collection of portraits, called "Alaskans in Pink," has something important to say: It may be one woman getting the diagnosis, but it's a wide circle of people who help her get through it. That circle can include a child. It can include people she doesn't even know. All deserve to be honored for their role in the fight against the disease.

Such is the intent of this project produced by Mary Katzke, founder of Affinityfilms Inc., an Anchorage-based nonprofit media company. The 12 portraits in the exhibit show the depth of a breast cancer patient's support network while paying tribute to those who have made a difference, big and small, in the movement.

Fine-art photographer Mark Daughhetee, curator of exhibits for the Alaska State Museum in Juneau, made the portrait of the boy. Daughhetee is known for images that obscure boundaries between what's real and what isn't. He doesn't normally do this kind of photography but made an exception when Katzke explained what she was trying to do.

He thought it was a "wonderfully conceived vehicle for shining a light on a difficult subject" while at the same time honoring those helping with the battle.

Daughhetee photographed the boy in a big chair, sitting the way boys typically do: one leg beneath him, the other up propped on the upholstery.

"I knew exactly what I was after," Daughhetee said. "I had him looking directly into the lens so he'd be confronting the viewer in the eyes."

A $4,800 grant from the Alaska Run for Women made this project possible, along with Katzke's vision and a lot of volunteer effort. Katzke, a long-term survivor herself, sought nominees from among breast cancer survivors and their families and friends, then found artists to work with them.

An anonymous patient nominated plastic surgeon Dr. Mike Manuel, whom David Predeger photographed in scrubs in the operating room. Manuel's patient was taken by his compassion, including showing up in her hospital room at 6:30 the morning after her surgery to see how she was doing.

Patty King, a cancer support advocate from Arizona, nominated Alisa Gilbert of Anchorage. Gilbert is an eight-year survivor and founder of Unbroken Circle and The National Office of Native Cancer Survivorship, both dedicated to improving care and support for Native people facing cancer.

"She represents hope to so many people," King wrote beneath Gilbert's portrait. "She makes us believe we have the power and ability to make changes just by her life and how she lives it."

Janet Burts of Palmer nominated her 11-year-old daughter, Aubrey, whom Katzke photographed reflected in a mirror playing dress-up. Aubrey, a sixth-grader at Palmer Junior Middle School, was born into a family with a breast cancer history. Since her mother is a close friend of Katzke's, breast cancer gets talked about often and openly in her house.

Aubrey's mother describes her daughter as a sensitive, compassionate child who tends to "worry, worry, worry about things." Burts has helped channel that energy into activism. Aubrey has helped her with her own volunteer work on Katzke's various projects, including packing "First Aid Kits for Your Heart and Soul," made for women newly diagnosed with breast cancer. (For information on how to get one, go to the Web site www.betweenus.org.)

For the photographers, Katzke had only two guidelines: that the portraits be black and white, and that in the photograph there be some kind of ribbon that could later be hand-tinted pink, representing the breast cancer symbol.

The portraits came in with ribbons on lapels, ribbons on shoes, ribbons illuminated by light, ribbons floating through air.

"It was just delightful to see what people came up with when given a bare-bones concept," said Katzke, who has long found ways to combine art and cause.

Clark Mishler took the ribbon challenge and ran with it. His portrait is of Shelley Coolidge, a nurse at Providence Imaging Center deeply involved in outreach.

After he met with her in her "cramped little office" and learned all she does, it occurred to him that she was like the trunk of a tree with branches spreading throughout the community. So off he went.

He found a tree he liked on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus, got permission to use it as a prop, bought a bunch of ribbon, cut it into lengths, set up a ladder and made loops around the branches so ribbons were hanging like tinsel. He put Coolidge where he wanted her. He fired up a generator to power the lights he needed to make his concept work.

This was the day before that ferocious March windstorm, and the wind was picking up. And up. With ribbons fluttering everywhere, it was quite a scene.

Traffic stopped. Campus police came by.

The portrait has an amazing sense of calm considering, with Coolidge looking down, ribbons dangling in the background, a ribbon floating across her face.

"It was one of those things you plan and it works out," Mishler said. "Like that one ribbon that kind of fell across her face. I just went 'snap.' "

These portraits made their debut last May at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, at the same time as the premiere of Katzke's film, "Beyond Flowers: What to Say and Do When Someone You Know has Breast Cancer." "Alaskans in Pink" spent the first half of October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, at Providence Alaska Medical Center and is currently at Alaska Regional Hospital until the end of the month.

The portraits also have been shown the Alaska Native Medical Center and at Valley Hospital in Palmer, where spokeswoman Elizabeth Ripley said it was "extremely well-received."

"The staff, in fact, felt it was a privilege to have such an artful portrayal of a very sensitive subject."

"Mary Katzke has done an excellent job of putting this together," said Alisa Gilbert, among those honored in the show. "Her approach to this subject has been so creative and so new, something you haven't seen anywhere else before. I just want to applaud her."

After October, the photo exhibit will be available for booking at no charge. Katzke said she hopes it will move around the state and be shown in a variety of venues beyond medical facilities. She also hopes eventually it will find a permanent home. For information, call 677-7970.

Daily News reporter Debra McKinney can be reached at dmckinney@adn.com.