Promoting Diversity and Acceptance Through Positive Exposure

Image Credit: © Positive Exposure

To address research pointing to the mental health impact of visible skin conditions, the Society of Dermatology Physician Assistants (SDPA) invited a fashion photographer turned patient advocate to discuss reframing beauty. The 2024 SDPA Annual Summer Dermatology Conference was held June 5 to 9, 2024, in San Diego, California.

“Positive Exposure is a nonprofit organization that promotes a more inclusive world through photography, through film, and through educational programs,” founder Rick Guidotti told Dermatology Times in an exclusive interview. “For the past 25 years, we’ve been collaborating with individuals and communities at risk of stigma and exclusion, celebrating the beauty and richness of human diversity.”

A chance encounter with a stunning child he recognized as having albinism inspired him to help redefine beauty, support diversity, and empower individuals living with genetic, physical, behavioral, or intellectual differences, including dermatological disorders. Taken by her unusual beauty, he researched the topic.

“Instead of finding images of this beautiful kid waiting for a bus, I saw horrible images: kids up against walls in doctor’s offices with black bars across their eyes or naked or in their underwear; I saw images in cancer clinics,” he said. “I knew right then and there that something needed to be done. We needed to change the representation that was out there.”

He reached out to an advocacy group. “I haven’t been able to find one positive representation of albinism anywhere, and I’ve been searching,” he told them. “So, let’s do something strange. Let’s form a nontraditional partnership—fashion photographer and genetic support group—and together we’ll collaborate and create a photographic essay that actually celebrates the beauty of albinism.” They agreed, Guidotti said, and Positive Exposure was born.

Guidotti celebrates the beauty of children with various disorders from around the globe via his pictures, capturing their warm smiles and eyes sparkling with personality. In doing so, he has a positive impact on their lives.

He told Dermatology Times about one of his earliest encounters. “I’m really excited to get started, and in walks this gorgeous kid with albinism to be photographed. But she walks in with her shoulders hunched, head down, no eye contact, 1-word answers. This kid had zero self-esteem as a direct result of the bullying and the teasing she experienced every single day in the classroom environment because of her difference. And it broke my heart.”

“Just the day before, I’d photographed Cindy Crawford on the same set for a Revlon shoot. And I have a respect for this kid, so I want to photograph her like I would any supermodel,” he said. “So, the fan went on, the music on, and I literally held up a mirror and said, ‘Christine, look at yourself. You’re magnificent.’” He said she took a new look at herself in the mirror and exploded “with the smile that literally lit up New York City.”

Since then, he has worked with hospitals, clinicians, and organizations to photograph children and help them celebrate their beauty. “I’m doing this big project in Houston right now in dermatology, and working with various clinics, creating an opportunity for these kids that are wearing their diseases or their conditions; conditions they can’t but try very hard to hide,” Guidotti said. His response to them is, “No, you’re stunning. You’ve got this.” He helps boost their self-esteem and helps them to reframe how they see their own reflection.

“Our slogan at Positive Exposure is: Change how you see, see how you change,” he explained. The goal is “to create opportunities for not only individuals living with differences to see beauty in their own reflection, but also to change their own attitudes about themselves. But also, to then help change public perceptions of differences. And really positively impact communities that have normally received a negative reaction to difference.

“Through positive imagery, there’s changing opportunities to see beauty in difference,” Guidotti said. “And once you see that beauty, once you see that humanity, it doesn’t shift back; you stay enlightened. And that’s what we believe in. It’s all about creating this human movement.”

Attendees of the SDPA conference were taken by Guidotti’s photographs and the message. “That was one of the most moving talks I think I’ve ever heard. Really, really, really good,” Ted Rosen, MD, FAAD, professor of dermatology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, said in a later session. “Someone taking off the cudgel people who’ve been taunted and teased and minimized by their peers, showing there’s beauty in every day,” he said. “There aren’t enough folks like that photographer. There aren’t enough people in the world to stick up for and stand up for people who don’t look quote, normal.”