Photography exhibit shows spina bifida in new light

TORONTO — Steve Kean wants viewers of his photographs to look at the disabled in a new light.

His show, “Front to Back” depicts people who, like him, have spina bifida—only in the nude.

“It’s important that people see a wider vision of beauty and what people think is beautiful,” he said in an interview at the Abbozzo Gallery on Richmond Street West in Toronto, where his show “Front to Back” opens Thursday night. “This is the human body in all its forms.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's important that people see a wider vision of beauty and what people think is beautiful," he said in an interview at the Abbozzo Gallery on Richmond Street West in Toronto, where his show "Front to Back" opens Thursday night. "This is the human body in all its forms."

It is a series of eight pairs of photos. The subjects are shown clothed in a colour image, juxtaposed with the nude poses in black and white. Surgical scars on backs are front and centre.

“This is my back. It’s a source of pain and grief, but it’s also who I am and what I am.”

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Kean said the idea had been germinating for about five years and grew out of his childhood experiences when he would be semi-clothed on display for discussion by medical students.

“Dignity took a back seat,” he said. “I offer these people a chance to take their power back and say on their terms ‘this is the way I see myself and this is the way I want you to see me.’”

Approaching his models was a sensitive matter. Kean started with a close friend and then branched out to acquaintances he met as part of his work with the Spina Bifida Association. To his surprise the responses were almost all enthusiastically positive.

He would take hundreds of images of each subject through a couple of sittings to give himself a broad selection for the final photos.

“There was a lot of emotion involved and a lot of trust, and I was deeply honoured to be trusted to do this with them.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There was a lot of emotion involved and a lot of trust, and I was deeply honoured to be trusted to do this with them."

His photographs are part of a broader exhibition of works by disabled artists with the title Strange Beauty, on display at various venues in Toronto.