Artist Yulia Taits is based in Israel, and recently came out with a photo series called “The Porcelain Beauty Project” where she explores the world of albinos, and wanted the rest of the world to see them as beautiful, as she did. Albinism is a genetic condition that is inherited, and reduces the melanin pigment in skin, eyes and hair.
Taits used children, men and women agains’t a white backdrop. The point of the white backdrop and white props or different shades and intensity speaks to the complexity of albinism.
The hypnotizing series plays with white on white, like the albino rat sitting on this subject’s shoulder! Which also highlights the ridiculous red eyes stereotype of albinos, as none of these subjects have them.
Taits says that as a photographer, she has “a passion to create fantasy world through my work and artistry”. She sees albinism as a beautiful fairytale in this sense, due to the fact that their beauty is “so pure.” It’s a lovely, much-needed perspective since in so many parts of the world, albinism is stigmatized.
Instead of using professional models (there are some pretty gorgeous ones like Diandra Forrest), Taits instead found her subjects by posting a request on a private albinism Facebook group asking for volunteers.
She didn’t use any Photoshop in her images – instead, she wanted to prove that white wasn’t just one color by incorporating natural tints, shades, and contrasts. Taits says “what transpired was pure natural beauty. All the photographs were taken in white tones with no additional coloring.”
Not gonna lie, some of the men in this shoot make us want an albino boo ASAP. So sexy and such a natural supermodel look. So while Taits raises awareness and educates us, she’s also blessing us with some fine human beings to gaze at in the process. We don’t know why anyone would be cruel about this condition – it’s breathtaking
And the children in the photos really do like look like little fairies. Like otherworldly creatures who are sprinkled with snow – who needs makeup when you have a naturally exquisite look?
The fact that a lot of the portraits are shot with the subjects’ eyes closed also highlights the complex beauty of varying degrees of whiteness, as their eyelashes look dusted with white mascara in the most breathtaking way ever. And hey, we might have more melanin than this little angel, but we bet nobody has skin as soft and flawless!
Not only is this photo series beautiful (we want every still of this series life size on our walls) but it helps fight stigma and stereotypes about albinism that is still, unfortunately very much needed in this day and age.
