Move to Include Awards – 2015

Rick Guidotti

Rick Guidotti and Ann Costello

The award was given to Rick Guidotti, the Founder and Director of Positive Exposure, for his exceptional work raising public awareness and educating people to understand and see the beauty in human diversity and our shared humanity. 

Rick of course created the Positive Exposure exhibition on display at the George Eastman Museum.

Words cannot express the impact that Rick has on people. His ability to connect with people in such a genuine personal way, to bring out the joy and to see the very best in everyone. 

Rick says he’s never photographed a genetic condition, he only photographs beauty...

He challenges us to see and think differently.

He’s a superb example of how one person can generate such meaningful change in attitudes and perspectives and shine a whole new light on people who are living with differences. 

Quoting Rick.... "The only way we're going to understand inclusion and really love the idea of diversity is if we're comfortable with it." 

From medical schools to communities to nations... Rick's passion, talent and eye for seeing the beauty in everyone has taken him on a mission in which he is changing the world – one Positive Exposure at a time. 

Congratulations Rick!

For the last 15 years Rick Guidotti’s passion has been to show the humanity and beauty of people living with genetic, physical, cognitive and behavioral differences. The award-winning former fashion photographer is the founder and director of Positive Exposure, a NYC-based non-profit arts, education and advocacy organization that explores the social and psychological experiences of people.  

Guidotti has worked for clients such as Yves Saint Laurent, Elle, and Harpers Bazaar. Now he is working to affect a sea change in societal attitudes towards individuals living with genetic differences.   His work has been widely published in the world’s leading newspapers, magazines and journals including ElleGQPeople, the American Journal of Medical GeneticsThe LancetSpirituality and Health, the Washington PostAtlantic Monthly and Life Magazine.   

Positive Exposure explores the social and psychological experiences of people living with genetic, physical, cognitive and behavioral conditions of all ages and ethno-cultural heritages.  It provides new opportunities to see individuals living with a genetic difference first and foremost as a human being with his/her own challenges rather than as a specific diagnosis/disease entity.  

Guidotti's work is also the focus of the new film On Beauty, which recently premiered to rave reviews in Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere around the country. In the film, director Joanna Rudnick followed Guidotti, who grew tired of seeing the same ideal of beauty "spit up at us constantly." Disillusioned by the industry, in a moment of serendipity, Guidotti walked by a young woman with Albinism (a genetic condition that results in loss of pigmentation in the hair and eyes) at a NYC bus stop, and wondered why she wasn't considered beautiful in his other world. This exploration resulted in a show-stopping magazine spread for Life Magazine featuring young women with Albinism smiling out from under the headline "Redefining Beauty."

See Photo Album from Move to Include Awards, October 15, 2015

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