DISTORTION

• Photographer
  ROB Walbers, Belgium
• Studio
  ROBWalbers.com

DISTORTION is a book about the daily life of the artists at Atelier
Yamanami, Shiga (Japan). These artists, with severe intellectual
disabilities and mental illnesses, visit the atelier every day to
express themselves through making art.

Idiots, retards, lunatics...
These terms are often given by a brutal society that cannot see
their uniqueness and personality other than disabilities.
I wanted to capture them as individuals just as they really are,
removing any insulting labels. I wanted to eliminate any obstacle
standing in the way of their light, as if it could illuminate the
whole world.
They cannot live on their own, but can we?
I wonder if many of us, those who are standing outside their
world, actually have got some kind of disability that makes us
numb against their light.
Perhaps the shadows that cloud our vision are actually our own
shadows, cast by our distorted viewpoint.

pr-y.org