The beauty of the disabled
Gabi Khumalo
30 January 2008In a bid to change the way society looks at disabled people and to celebrate their beauty, the City of Cape Town is to launch a photo exhibition featuring French models with various forms of disability.
"Aesthetic and Disability", on show in the Cape Town Civic Centre concourse from 2 to 29 February, will be officially opened by the Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille on Friday.
"I fully support this initiative to reconcile the notions of disability and beauty and to change the way society looks at disabled people as well as the way people with disabilities look at themselves," Zille said.
The powerful gallery of images was conceptualised by Deza Nguembock and produced by top photographers Angele Etoundi Essamba of Amsterdam and Cherif Boubrit of Paris.
Nguembock and Essamba both live with the after-effects of childhood polio.
"We decided to launch the exhibition in Cape Town because the executive mayor, Helen Zille, was the first public figure to respond positively to our invitation," said Nguembock, who was born in Cameroon but now lives in Paris.
He said they wanted to use their talents to rehabilitate the image that society has for disabled people, and to enrich the image of disabled people in different societies.
"I am thrilled that the world premiere is taking place in Africa, where people with disabilities are not set apart, but form an integral part of society," Nguembock said. "The world will be looking to Cape Town to see how people react to this concept."
The exhibition includes photos of Nicholas Bissardon of Lyon, a 25-year-old model who has a birth malformation in his limbs, and Evelyne Breton of Marseilles, who became a paraplegic following an accident before going on to become France's wheelchair marathon champion in 2000.
The self-funded project took 12 months to complete, with most of the photos being shot in a Paris studio.
After its Cape Town showing, the exhibition will return to Paris and possibly tour New York and Tokyo.
Source: BuaNews
