Portrait nominee

Feared for his life, Mikhail fled his home country in Africa due to persecution of albino. It is very thought-provoking to think how whiteness is celebrated in the West, but cursed in Africa. We painted Mikhail’s pale albinistic skin with black ashes and smoke pattern, a symbolism for death. When the images are inverted, he magically transcends into a personification of the night sky radiated with galaxies and constellations. Inversion is a tribute to color negative film. Moreover, it is an embodiment of the multiple visual, symbolic and philosophical dualities in this editorial; a metaphor for the contradicting beauty standards in Africa and the West.
The night sky is rich and multi-layered in symbolism. From astrology to astronomy, human's praise, reverence and intrigue towards its beauty, vastness and mystery have united humanity across all cultures and throughout all history. Despite the deep spiritual connection, we still learned to focus on our difference and segregate each other based on color. Through this portrait series, we want to tell the suffering African albino population how beautiful and precious you are, and we want to plead against segregation based on color.
Subject: Mikhail Ogochi
MUA: Anja Dimitrijevic

William Ye is a 26-year-old self-taught portrait and fine art photographer based in Toronto, Canada. William’s passion for fine art photography ignited 3 years ago, and since then, he worked hard to form his own photographic style under the influences of many artists, including Salvador Dali, Erwin Olaf, Jennifer Hudson, and so forth. William has received several awards and honorable mentions in various International level photography competitions in the past, including IPA, One Eyeland, PDN and IPOTY. William’s current focus is on fine art male form. He hopes one day to break the taboo of male nudity in the main stream art.