Photography bears witness to the world in which we live, transforming now only how we see, but also how we think. It’s most primal power lies in the fact that you simply cannot unsee what it has shown: for better or for worse, it makes the invisible known.
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With portraiture, photography adopts a humanizing approach: allowing us to gaze upon the other and discover what connections lie beneath the surface of the flesh and in the well of spirit. To stare is an act of aggression which the photograph neutralizes: it invites us to look tirelessly at someone who is not us, and consider both our relation to them and them in their own right, discovering captivating moments of beauty wherever they may lie.
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In the series Altered, Manon Ouimet taps into the therapeutic power of photography to help people living with disfigurement reimagine themselves. The people pictured here, fully in the nude, have unwillingly embarked upon life-changing body alterations due to illness, war, accidents, and violence. Where disfigurement was once shunned and erased, they are now given the same care and sensitivity of any other great portrait subject.
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The result is a fascinating look at the way in which visibility transforms our perceptions about beauty, wholeness, and humanity — while providing the subjects themselves with the opportunity to reveal a side of themselves that they generally hide from the world, as an integral part of their path to healing and self discovery. Here Ouimet shares her work championing the power, beauty, and dignity of fearless self-expression.
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