International Albinism Awareness Day
Every year, on the 13th of June, the world celebrates International Albinism Awareness Day. On this day, we celebrate diversity, promote inclusion and make people aware of the rights of people with albinism who are still endangered in some parts of the world. People and animals with albinism are very sensitive to light. That’s why they are a very important source of inspiration to Modular
People and animals with albinism lack the pigment melanin, resulting in pale skin, eyes and hair. This also causes a very ambiguous relationship with light. On the one hand, people and animals with albinism are a lot more light sensitive than others. While on the other hand, they don’t like to be in the dark and need light, just like anyone else.
The uniqe pale look of people and animals with albinism makes them stand out of the crowd more easily, something Modular can relate to very well. This unique look was the source of inspiration for Modular’s current campaign, called “Sensitive to light”. Together with Belgian photographer Frieke Janssens we tried to capture the sheer and hypnotising beauty of these people and animals.
Israelian artist Yulia Taits was also drawn to the beauty of the combination of people and animals with albinism in her “Porcelain Beauty” project (2 pictures at the bottom). She described her models as “pure and amazing”. It’s this ‘pureness’ that makes our most recent campaign pop out. Frieke Janssens played a huge part in this, making sure that the images displayed the right mood and atmosphere, highlighting the characteristic features of our models.(read our interview with Frieke here) She proved that there are an infinite number of tints and shades of white. White is definitely not just one colour!
The fact that not everyone in this world appreciates people with albinism and their unique look and sensitivity is why we at Modular believe it’s important to celebrate International Albinism Awareness Day.
People shouldn’t be judged by the absence of pigment. We all live under the same sun. Only some of us are more sensitive to the light than others.