The strong contender is a beautiful piece of art created by a sculptor, John Edom. The sculptor studied both his Bachelors and Masters degree in Visual Art and Technology at the Cross River University of Science and Technology (CRUTECH now UNICROSS), Nigeria.

With his Masters research on upcycling, he calls upcycling "giving waste a second chance". This is the use of raw materials to create arts that can be accommodated into the society. Rather than abhor the waste and allow it to cause more problems than it already has, he decides to see a solution in it, making valuable art pieces, telling stories, talking about life situations from them.

The artist explains that a contender is one who competes and has the advantage to win a battle. In his art work, the strong contender represents a female figure. The figure has a little black highlight on one of the breasts which signifies cancer. He talks about how most people literally give up at the hearing of cancer because of how deadly it can be. However, there are those who amidst the diagnosis, encourage themselves and fight through early diagnosis and treatment. They deal with it and definitely get through it alive. That is the significance of the art piece.

Despite having one of the lowest incidence rates, Africa has one of the highest mortality rates for breast cancer (17.3 per 100,000). Within Africa, the mortality rate is highest (20.1 per 100,000 women per year) in the West African sub-region. This high mortality is largely attributed to lack of awareness, access to treatment, fear of medical treatment and mastectomy, and high cost of treatment, in a largely impoverished populace. Pink Africa Foundation is tackling all this through the #RESETCancer at the Calabar Go Pink Day 23, providing free screening, free mastectomy surgeries, and raising awareness to the efficacy of modern medical treatment, when breast cancer is detected and treated early.

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Through this art, John Edom passes the message of hope and courage to women who are battling breast cancer and those who have scaled through amidst the many challenges. They are the strong contenders because of the strength they carry in their battle with breast cancer, seeing as it affects most women's emotional landscape, physical appearance and sense of femininity.

This also goes out to everyone going through difficult challenges, those supporting them, and those still encouraged to move on and get through, no matter what. They are the real strong contender.

Mr. John Edom was speaking with the Media and Publicity Team of the Pink Africa Foundation, as a buildup to the Calabar Go Pink Day 23, holding October 21, 2023, one of the biggest cancer rallies and medical outreaches in the region, bringing together thousands of participants yearly, in the fight against breast cancer.