Hi my name is Kambua and I'm fundraising for "I Have Earned Every Line™".

When I turned 50 on May 12, 2025, I felt a deep need to create something meaningful to mark this new chapter of my life.

I kept thinking about a photograph my father took of me on my first birthday, sitting on the hood of his car and holding his camera. After losing him, that image began to feel like a reminder that photography has always been part of my story and that I could use my camera to help other women feel seen.

I Have Earned Every Line™ is my love letter to women 50 and over. A portrait and storytelling project celebrating women exactly as they are, without makeup, filters, or beauty retouching.

This project honours the wisdom, resilience, grief, joy, strength, beauty, and lived experience carried in every line. It challenges the idea that women should become less visible as they age and creates space for their stories to be seen, remembered, and celebrated.

To date, I have photographed more than 85 women. My goal is to photograph 100 women in total. Fifty portraits will be exhibited at Alma Gallery in Chicago on September 18, 2026, and all 100 women will be included in a future book alongside their handwritten letters written to themselves.

Your donation will help support the full vision of this project, including:

1. Archival Printing

Funds will help print the exhibition portraits on high-quality archival paper so each woman is honoured with the beauty, care, and permanence her story deserves.

2. Exhibition Preparation

Donations will support framing, installation materials, gallery preparation, and printed exhibition pieces for the Alma Gallery opening.

3. Storytelling Documentation

Each woman’s story is part of the heart of this project. Funds will help support video, written storytelling, and documentation connected to the portraits.

4. Final Portraits in Kenya and South Africa

This project began in Chicago, but its reach is international. Donations will help support the final portraits being created in Kenya and South Africa.

5. Future Book Publication

All 100 women will be included in a future book. Your support will help begin the production process, including design, editing, layout, and preparation for publication.

Suggested Donation Levels

$25 — Helps support printed project materials

$50 — Supports storytelling documentation

$100 — Helps fund archival printing

$200 — Supports project production and exhibition preparation

$500 — Helps sponsor one exhibition portrait

$1,000+ — Major project sponsor - logo will be shown in marketing materials

Every donation, no matter the size, helps bring this project closer to the wall, the page, and the world.

Thank you for supporting I Have Earned Every Line™ and helping women 50 and over be seen, celebrated, and remembered.

With gratitude,

Kambua Chema

https://abc7chicago.com/post/chicago-photographer-kambua-chema-seeks-rewrite-beauty-standards-capturing-women-50/18773349/