To kickstart Breast Cancer Awareness month, Touchy-Feely brought The Forgotten Faces of Breast Cancer campaign to the heart of South and East London with a bold, community-led activation across Brixton Village and Westfield Stratford.
The pop-up installations formed part of a wider effort to reframe how breast cancer is seen, discussed, and understood; particularly within Black communities where stigma, silence, and late diagnosis remain pressing issues.
Throughout the day, members of the Touchy-Feely community took to the streets to spark real conversations. They shared lived experiences, demonstrated breast self-examinations, and offered culturally competent guidance for those seeking care beyond treatment.
The goal was simple yet radical: to make breast cancer awareness visible, accessible, and relevant to everyone.
This initiative sits within our wider campaign, The Forgotten Faces of Breast Cancer, which challenges the lack of representation of Black and ethnic-minority women in mainstream breast cancer narratives. It celebrates survivors, thrivers, and those living with the disease, reminding the world that cancer has no single face, and awareness must reflect the diversity of those it affects.
Across both sites, hundreds engaged with our activation, learning, asking questions, and sharing stories of their own. What emerged was a powerful display of community: one that blended advocacy with empathy, data with storytelling, and awareness with action.
As Breast Cancer Awareness Month continues, Touchy-Feely reaffirms its commitment to closing the awareness and survival gap for those from ethnic-minority backgrounds, continuing to stand at the intersection of cultural care, advocacy, and lived experience to reimagine how the world sees cancer and the people it touches.
To learn more about our ongoing work, visit www.touchy-feely.org and follow us on social media at @wegettouchyfeely.
