Outside the Frame

2012-11-10

What do you usually imagine when thinking of women with disabilities? A wheelchair, a white cane, a victim of earthquake? The photo exhibition featuring girls with disabilities came to break these stereotypes and take the image of women with disabilities outside the frame.

The photo exhibition organized by Unison NGO was opened on the 26th of October at the Moscow Cinema in Yerevan and, lasting 4 days, gave numerous visitors a chance to form a fresh perspective of women with disabilities. It proved that, if given a chance, every person, regardless of gender and disability, can reach great heights in any, even the most unexpected sphere.

In contrary with the public perceptions of women with disabilities, the girls in this photo exhibition are portrayed as brave and beautiful women embodying the concept of freedom and individuality. To make the contradiction more apparent, the disability of the girls was shown only in the “before” shots in the beginning part of the exhibition, while in all other photos, the physical problems were left “outside the cadre”. 

The photos united under the slogan “Outside the Frame” transformed the visitors to a world of beauty and charm, passion and romance, orient and exotics. Elegant and artistically delicate, the nude photos pleasantly shocked the viewers. The photo exhibition, however, was not just aimed at challenging the opinion of the general society: the girls themselves, making their first steps in the work of modeling, had a chance to newly discover their personalities, the art of being beautiful and the broad possibilities of artistic changes.

11 girls with disabilities from Yerevan (Tigranuhi Minasyan, Anahit Vardanyan, Lilit Petrosyan) and 7 marzes (Anahit Khalatyan from Aragatsotn, Luiza Sukiasyan from Kotayq, Ani Ghukasyan from Gegharkunik, Qristine Piruzyan from Lori, Meri Mezhlumyan from Syunik, Greta Vardanyan and Kristine Aghayan from Shirak, and Meri Mlhamyan from Armavir) participated in the project.

The models were present at the opening of the exhibition and could not hide their excitement. “I could never imagine that I would have a chance to be one of the main heroes of such an extraordinary photo exhibition” said Luiza Sukiasyan, while Meri Mezhlumyan was happy for finally reaching her lifetime dream of working as a model. 

The diversity of styles and characters was reached due to the professional team of photographers (Suren Manvelyan, Rasmila Alaverdyan, Yevgenia Evoyan, Marianna Meliksetyan and Garegin Ghazaryan), fashion designers (Seda Manukyan and Karine Avagova), hair stylists (Armen Muradyan and Armen Venetikyan) and make-up artists (Sona Abrahamyan and Narine Hovhannisyan).

The exhibition was part of the “Promoting diversity for equality” project implemented by Unison with support of the Open Society Foundations - Armenia.

The event attracted hundreds of visitors and, judging by the broad media coverage and positive feedback from the visitors, reached its goals. “Fantastic”, “You have changed my attitude to disabilities”, “Mother nature and women...one can endlessly see and feel the great secret of this natural tie awarded to us by the universe”…  Especially touching was the message from a girl of school age: “Thank you! You warmed our frozen feelings”.