In the year 1983, my father visited the home of Mr. and Mrs. Koujalagi in the Melukote town of Karnataka (map - topics) and discovered that the couple cared for a number of handicapped children in their home. The Koujalagis were not very wealthy, but the entire family (and the adopted children) pitched-in for the daily errands in a way that my father would remember forever. A boy without hands, washing clothes with his foot, children walking on their hands, because they had no feet, disabled children playing Cricket are some of the most memorable images from our collection. The stills are very inspiring, and every time we run into them, my father would exclaim "beauty that we know is skin-deep; the real human beauty is inside!"
This week, some of these inspiring pictures will be shown in Brazil.
I am vehemently opposed to showing of pictures of poverty to entice sympathy or to raise funds. I find it immoral and have never allowed our pictures to be used in that way. I do this to honor the people in the photographs as well to honor the spirit in which my father took the photographs. This is the same reason our section on poverty has no advertisements.
So the organizer of the exhibit, activist Mauro Peixoto had to promise me "...I will not show any picture where the handicapped are begging or unhappy. The pictures will be used only in a positive way."
Without further ado, I present The Beauty is Skin Deep
