Brazilian Photographer Gustavo Lacerda’s ‘Albinos’ Series

In Lacerda’s home country of Brazil, albino people mostly live on the Ilha dos Lencois, a sparsely populated island that also functions as an ibis sanctuary, according to Lonely Planet. At one point, the existence of albinism in northern Brazil was extensively studied, but then died down, until the Daily Mail went crazy over a story about an Afro-Brazilian woman who apparently had three children with albinism. The Guardian recently reported on a story of two parents who debated whether to have a child with albinism, saying, “I was anxious about the impact on us of being parents and the perceptions of other people.”

The photographer’s series incorporates the gaze those with albinism are wont to experience, but in the series, they look right back at the viewers. Toying with pose, light and saturation, Lacerda creates an ethereal beauty where the light-drenched palette is coupled with a darker reality.