Colossium Magazine August Issue_2018 | Page 13

photographer deems fit for his creation. The pictures taken through Lightroom, Photoshop and other editing software to create a total- ly different version of themselves which they themselves can barely recognize. Their pains and struggles are often romanticized and turned into a piece of art which is just virtual while they still struggle offline with abuse un- provoked. E lihu’s project does more than exploring the beauty of albinism. It is a call to action to end discrimina- tion against people living with such conditions. Even today, in Ghana: a hyper-religious country deeply buried in spirituality coupled with our heavy sense of superstition makes it even more difficult for people living with these conditions to be safe. PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: My main motto is “fighting against the powers that be” These powers though most- ly invisible are intertwined with our everyday lives and endeavors. The media is the biggest culprit, and theories like the hypodermic needle shows the power of the me- dia to influence. As an indi- vidual who has always been seen as a bit off…not con- forming to standards, this project, a first of its kind seeks to embrace the idea of being a misfit, celebrate “being off” and relishing in individuality. This is my own way of fighting discrimina- tion. W hen Martin Luther King gave the I HAVE A DREAM speech, this was what it meant to me. We cheered to that speech whenever we watch it and may years into the future, we still segregate. The speech was against segregation by race. We are still faced by segregation to the point where the lack of pigment is enough reason to hate our own. These people to a point are hunted like games. They are believed to possess special powers which translates to wealth. This project to is one of the many proj- ects I will be working on to tackle the phenom- enon of discrimination. Photography by SalutingTheSunPhotography