Celebrating Diversity - Photographic work Normalising and Celebrating people of Genetic Difference.

FEATURING RICK GUIDOTTI WITH POSITIVE EXPOSURE: THE SPIRIT OF DIFFERENCE AND THE SOCIETY OF BEHAVIOURAL PHENOTYPES PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION

Postive Exposure, founded in 1997 by former fashion photographer Rick Guidotti and Diane McLean, MD, PhD, MPH, is a highly innovative arts organisation working with individuals living with genetic difference.

Through vigorous cross-sector partnerships with health advocacy organizations, governmental agencies and educational institutions, Positive Exposure utilises the visual arts to significantly impact the fields of genetics, mental health and human rights.

Our programs support and promote human dignity through Positive Exposure's Spirit of Difference photographic image data bank and video interviews of persons, particularly children, living with genetic conditions.

A recurring theme voiced by many individuals/families and organisations is the need to help physicians, particularly medical students and trainees, learn how to best meet the concerns of individuals/families with, or at risk for, genetic disorders.

Each individual living with a genetic difference desires to be viewed first and foremost as a human being with his/her own special needs rather than as a specific diagnosis/disease entity; currently available medical images illustrating genetic difference are particularly dehumanising and dispiriting.

Rick Guidotti Director of Positive Exposure, completed his education in photography and filmmaking at New York’s School of Visual Arts and established a studio in Manhattan, specializing in portraiture and fashion for 15 years. During that period he also worked in Milan, Paris and London for clients such as Yves Saint Laurent, Elle, Harpers Bazaar, Revlon, L’Oreal and Life Magazine.  

In 1998, Rick founded Positive Exposure, a non profit organisation, that challenges stigma associated with difference by pioneering a new vision of the beauty and richness of genetic diversity. Rick’s photo essay “Redefining Beauty” in Life Magazine won the Genetic Alliance’s “Art of Reporting” award. 

The body of work entitled “Positive Exposure, The Spirit of Difference” premiered at the People’s Genome Celebration, June 2001, at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in DC. and continues to exhibit in galleries, museums and public arenas internationally.  
 
In addition to the exhibition, Rick has developed a lecture series targeting medical schools, nursing and genetic counselling programs as well as universities, elementary and secondary schools worldwide. The lecture series has recently expanded to include a diversity workshop and was introduced at MTV headquarters. Rick is based in New York City.