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About this project
ON BEAUTY is a documentary film and companion social engagement campaign that explores a critical social question: What is beauty? We examine this topic through the lens of Rick Guidotti, who left behind a successful career as a New York fashion photographer to take pictures of children who are often relegated to the shadows because of elongated limbs, cleft palates, facial markings, lack of pigmentation, and other differences that make some turn their heads leading to a lifetime of painful stigma and low-self esteem. Rick's images are not the grotesque medical studies of the past; they are windows into children with unique personalities, opinions and senses of humor. As Rick says, "Put a light on any one of these kids and they shine. Then get the hell out of their way because there's no stopping them."
In 1997 after a chance encounter at a New York City bus stop with a young women who had the genetic condition Albinism, Rick switched the focus of his life's work from the glitzy world of fashion to the not-for-profit Positive Exposure, taking his camera and his message celebrating "the spirit of difference" around the world.
Rick has focused much of his international work on children with Albinism in Africa. There, he uses his photographs to educate local communities about Albinism and to combat horrific discrimination and violence resulting from a belief that individuals with Albinism hold special medicinal value. In Tanzania – where Albinism occurs at rates as high as 1 in 3,000 births (versus 1 in 20,000 in the U.S.) – children are being slaughtered by witch doctors for their bones, which are considered to have supernatural powers and used in magic potions.
The Power of Positive Exposure and photography to change public perception and fear of difference is clearly demonstrated in the most challenging communities of East Africa where genetic discrimination may lead to persecution and murder. Traveling with Rick to East Africa this winter will be a monumental opportunity to document Positive Exposure employing international public awareness programs engaging an entire community to celebrate the beauty of difference. Kartemquin needs your help for us to get there and shoot with Rick, adding this very important component to our documentary.
Thank you,
Joanna Rudnick & Rick Guidotti
Project location: Chicago, IL
35
Backers
$9,175
pledged of $45,000 goal
0
seconds to go
Funding Unsuccessful
This project reached the deadline without achieving its funding goal on December 1, 2009.Pledge $25 or more
Become a member of Positive Exposure and receive newsletters, email blasts and updates on Rick's work and exhibitions.
11 BACKERs
Pledge $100 or more
A DVD packaged copy of Joanna Rudnick’s last film IN THE FAMILY (http://inthefamily.kartemquin.com/) with extra scenes.
8 BACKERs
Pledge $500 or more
Become a member of the On Beauty team. Receive invitations to sneak-preview screenings in-person or on-line. Get a personalized thank you in the end credits of the film.
2 BACKERs
Pledge $1,000 or more
Become a member of the On Beauty team and receive a priceless, exclusive signed copy of one of the OLIVIA books by author and Positive Exposure supporter Ian Falconer (http://www.oliviathepiglet.com/).
1 BACKER
Pledge $5,000 or more
Become a member of the On Beauty team and receive a beautiful signed print of the Positive Exposure signature image celebrating "the spirit of difference" (http://www.positiveexposure.org/home.html).
0 BACKERs
Pledge $10,000 or more
Become a member of the On Beauty team, receive a copy of Joanna Rudnick's IN THE FAMILY DVD, the full collection of the OLIVIA series signed by Ian Falconer, a beautiful signed print of the Positive Exposure signature image as well as a top-billing funding credit.
0 BACKERs
Project By
Kartemquin Films & Positive Exposure
New York, NY
Send Message“These filmmakers have the ability to penetrate the souls of the people they depict.”
—Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun Times
KARTEMQUIN FILMS has been producing award-winning documentary films on today's most pressing social issues for over 40 years. Kartemquin documentaries are supported by civic engagement strategies that are developed with local and national partners to foster understanding, change thinking, and build support for social change. Kartemquin acts as a trusted bridge between communities and the media, to foster the growth of new filmmaking voices that are passionate about their subjects, and to advocate for the importance of strong local and public media.
Kartemquin’s 2008 film In The Family sensitized health-care professionals and the general public to the consequences of living with the “breast cancer gene”, or BRCA, a mutation for which filmmaker Joanna Rudnick herself tested positive at the age of 27. During the making of In The Family, Rudnick used footage to advocate for the passage of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) and to support the ACLU’s lawsuit against the patenting of BRCA by Myriad Genetics.
Kartemquin's best known film, Hoop Dreams, won every major critics prize and journalism award in 1995 and was named on over 150 “ten best” lists. Kartemquin’s most ambitious project, the seven-hour series, The New Americans, enjoyed extraordinary reception from both American and international critics as well as the prestigious International Documentary Association Best Limited Series Award in 2004.
POSITIVE EXPOSURE, founded in 1997 by former fashion photographer Rick Guidotti, is a highly innovative arts organization working with individuals living with genetic difference. Through vigorous cross-sector partnerships with health advocacy organizations, governmental agencies and educational institutions, Positive Exposure utilizes the visual arts to significantly impact the fields of genetics, mental health and human rights.
Our programs support and promote human dignity through Positive Exposure's Spirit of Difference photographic image data bank and video interviews of persons, particularly children, living with genetic conditions.
A recurring theme voiced by many individuals/families and organizations is the need to help physicians, particularly medical students and trainees, learn how to best meet the concerns of individuals/families with, or at risk for, genetic disorders.
Each individual living with a genetic difference desires to be viewed first and foremost as a human being with his/her own special needs rather than as a specific diagnosis/disease entity; currently available medical images illustrating genetic difference are particularly dehumanizing and dispiriting.
Positive Exposure conducts Self-Esteem/Self-Advocacy photographic and interview workshops in collaboration with people living with genetic conditions. Positive Exposure also presents diversity workshops and portable, sustainable educational and human rights programs and multi media exhibitions for physicians, nurses, genetic counselors, health care professionals-in-training, universities, elementary and secondary schools, legislators and the general public.
