In this project, I aim to find a visual language to overcome the fear and revulsion that viewers experience at first sight of the alarming scars in my photographs, and compel them to look
beyond the scars, beyond the fear - into the depths of my work and my wonderful heroine. And to see beauty there.

In my diptychs, alongside Marina's rough, burnt skin, her deformed figure - there are rough, crooked, imperfect branches, leaves, rocks of the lakes and forests of Massachusetts, the land
that accepted us both, me and Marina, when we needed it most. There is nothing perfect, smooth, or flawless in nature. And therein lies its beauty. And in the rhyme of forms, colors, lines
of both images, the viewer begins to recognize the beauty of Marina, which differs from conventional ideals.

I believe that the less diversity people see in everyday life, the more it unsettles them, and this is something I can change. As a photographer, I have the opportunity to show how beautiful differences are and to try to shift society even slightly towards a more open, diverse, and inclusive community of people.
Through my portraits, I want to give people who are different from the standard for various reasons the chance to breathe more freely and to show others that beauty is diverse.

A little about my heroine.
A girl who experienced a personal catastrophe at a still unconscious age, who almost doesn't remember herself looking like an average person, who has undergone over 60 surgeries and
had to stay in the hospital several times a year. A girl who daily faces the question from strangers, "What's wrong with your face?" And this girl hasn't locked herself away, cursing her fate
and fearing to go outside, quite the opposite! Marina found the strength and courage to become a model, to run a blog where she shares her personal stories about inclusion and diversity,
and to help burn survivors around the world. And she thrives beyond the scars, pain, and insults.