« Do you want his photo? ! A cry of rage that Francesca Clayton repeated, as a teenager, as soon as stigmatizing looks arose on her friend with disabilities. The girl suffers from cerebral paralysis and her tagged approach is the target of many jibes. “It made me terribly sad and angry,” recalls the 30 -year -old, born in England, who arrived in Orthez (64) at the age of 12.
“What drives me is to show that despite the difference, we are all of the same human family”
It was in this corner of Béarn, seduced by the landscapes of the Pyrenees, that she grabs her first camera to freeze their beauty. “Beauty is first of all a question of look,” smiles the employee of the chemical group Arkema. So in 2015, Francesca Clayton aims to make aesthetic clichés of a few people with bruised bodies in order to release a glamorous exhibition. “What drives me is to show that despite the difference, we are all of the same human family,” she said at the time.
Get out of invisibility
The vagaries delay the project called “Different is Beautiful”, which the photographer is ready to trigger in March 2020. “I had mobilized a dozen models across France, everything was ready,” rebobs Francesca. The confinement came to stop its momentum. Some of these anonymous anonymous people with a broken body will be insisted to rekindle the eyes of the Bearnaise.
She calls on Facebook in the fall of 2021 to recruit her models. “From the first day, I received 30 messages,” she delivers. Francesca Clayton testifies to the desire of these people, who make our eyes look away, to make themselves visible. For a year, the photographer spent her free time to cross France and produced a hundred shootings, discovering so many personal stories.
“I had a lot of recently amputated models and for whom this shoot was a way to accept their new body”
In Bordeaux, it is a young quadriplegic following an unhappy dive on an Landes beach. Elsewhere, a man suffering from a disease which forces him to amputate his members one by one. In Nantes, Toulouse, Marseille, Montpellier, Pau, Rennes, Rouen, Niort, Lilles, Lyon, Clermont-Ferrand, Dijon, Vichy, Tours, Strasbourg, Paris and Brussels, Francesca Clayton hears the suffering of these courses and the resilience of its hundred new friends.
Handicap law, 20 years later: in the wheels of the Archair MP Sébastien Peytavie in Sarlat
-First deputy to access the National Assembly and rapporteur for the mission to assess the disability law of February 11, 2005, Sébastien Peytavie accepted a two -hour wiring in his hometown, Sarlat (Dordogne), in his constituency. As in many cities in France, accessibility is a word that is still combat. And inclusion, an almost inaccessible ambition
Find the esteem of his body
“I had a lot of recently amputated models and for whom this shoot was a way to accept their new body, to find self -esteem. The black and white photos are enriched with poignant testimonies. “Beyond changing the eyes of society on these people, I became aware of their need to talk about their handicap. »»
“I want to show humans in all their truth”
Without decor to offer only the subject to look, the 36 -year -old photographer invites her models to dress at least. “I want to show humans in all their truth,” she explains. Many will appear in underwear, exposing their bruises with dignity. Three will offer their nudity magnified by the artistic gaze of Francesca. Stéphanie did not dare. Montpelliéraine has placed in pants and turtleneck sweater to hide the scars that invade its body and two leg prostheses.
“When I started to store the equipment, she came back to me to redo the shoot. His shot in tank top, panties and without prosthesis is the showcase of the project. “Since then, she has been testifying to a total liberation that has changed her life,” said Francesca.
A case for children
For more than a year, the exhibition “Different is Beautiful” has been traveling through France to settle in public places, but also in universities and businesses. One of the highlights is obviously the hanging of the 100 fabrics in Paris during the Paralympic Games, in the presence of around forty models interviewed by media around the world. Soon in Dijon, Lille or Lyon, the exhibition was reserved until 2026.
For the past few weeks, the young woman has taken a leave for business creation and gave birth to “Dib Studios”. “Today, I have requests from centers that house people with disabilities to come and make shoots and a house exhibition,” explains the young entrepreneur. Francesca also works at the exit of a book from the clichés and testimonies of its 100 models.
“When I went to show the exhibition in schools, I realized that it was necessary to start education with regard to children,” she continues. With teachers and an illustrator, the photographer is currently working on the creation of a fun and educational case. “I want to offer it to national education so that it is distributed in all schools,” she concludes.
