most great photographers, love their subjects a whole lot. so much so that a few of them go to great lengths to get that perfect shot. often at the risk to their life and limb.
dutch award winning photographer, marinka masséus is one such artist. her work revolves around people and human nature. and gender inequality and injustice are usually the underlying themes in her work.
in her photo series, ‘under the same sun’ a collaboration between herself, the josephat torner foundation and ‘stichting afrikaanse albino’s’, she aims to raise awareness about the children with albinism living in africa, specifically tanzania.
why? you may ask. that’s what we wondered. what does albinism have to do with africa. and to say the very least we were shocked. in tanzania, children born with albinism are thought to be evil and killing them is considered to bring good luck.
when a child is born an albino, the mother is told to kill the baby at birth and if the mother puts up a brave front and refuses, they are ridiculed and left out of society.
many albinos now live in camps away from the rest of society. these camps lack even the most basic facilities. and it doesn’t end there. albinos are born without any pigmentation. which means they have no natural protection against the harsh african sun. this lack of melanin results in severe burns and over time leads to skin cancer.
so this photo series by marinka, aims to highlight the issues faced by these children in tanzania and to also raise funds for organizations like ‘under the same sun’ in canada or ‘stichting afrikaanse albino’s’ and ‘stichting inside the same’ in the netherlands, who are trying to bring sun screen to the people going through this kind of life.
marinka says that she is determined to make her work make a difference.