Photo Exhibition

About Life with Albinism in Africa

The exhibition by renowned photojournalist Antonio Cossa provides an intimate insight into the daily lives of people with albinism in two African countries – Zambia and Benin. While in Zambia they are considered non-human spiritual beings who bring curses and misfortune to the family and the community, in Benin they are worshipped within the traditional religion of Vodun (voodoo) as spiritual materialisation of the creator deity on Earth.

Most of the exhibition is dedicated to challenges faced by people with albinism in Zambia, mainly children and mothers, whose rights are violated on a daily basis. Since 2016 dozens of children with albinism has been abducted, ritually abused, murdered or dismembered because their body parts are considered a highly valued source of wealth, power and prestige.

This photo exhibition provides an intimate insight into their daily lives and mediate their experience of social stigma, discrimination, isolation, feelings of loneliness and the ever-present fear of being hunted and ritually attacked. It also offers an escape from this painful reality through artistic portraits that give them denied dignity, inner strength and empowerment to fight injustice in their lives.

This photography exhibition is part of the visual anthropological research project on albinism carried out in Zambia (2003) by Czech cultural anthropologist Kateřina Mildnerová from Palacký University Olomouc.