Chasing Light is an ongoing (circa 2011) collaborative medium format color film photography project between twin siblings Bianca and riel Sturchio. Bianca and riel utilize photography as a means to delve into the complications of their respective non-normative identities and health-related challenges. Bianca and riel were both born premature with severely delayed developmental milestones and cerebral palsy.
Bianca and riel both identify as non-normative in body and identity. riel is non-binary, queer, and someone who lives with invisible chronic illness, and Bianca lives in the intersection of physically disability and queerness.
Chasing Light serves as a conduit to consider riel's position as lead photographer or observer, and how riel's gaze both filters and complicates the narrative. The project also makes space for an ongoing dialogue, where riel strives to make sense of the complex dynamics between her identity, body, and environment--namely the privilege and guilt associated with recognizing her ability to access particular social opportunities and pass as non-disabled. Bianca similarly aims to re-frame how she and others imagine the human body and strives to challenge society's narrow perception of what constitutes as valuable, worthy, and deserving of visibility.
