NATALIA

When someone acts or looks different, people can be unsure how to ask questions. ‘Why is your child acting like that?’. ‘What condition do they have?’. Some may even turn away so as not to confront their feelings. From experience, this can leave the parent and person with a genuine feeling of isolation. My hope for this project is to show people that it is ok to ask questions and infinitely better than looking away.

I recently had the pleasure of photographing Natalia. She is a beautiful girl whose innocence and natural beauty can be seen in all her photos. Natalia is a very happy girl who adores music. In fact, during our photoshoot she really enjoyed dancing - so much so that we all had a little bop!

Natalia has partial trisomy 13, known as Patau’s Syndrome. It is a rare condition and unfortunately 90% of babies born with partial trisomy 13 die before they reach their first birthday. Patau's Syndrome are genetic conditions caused by the presence of an extra chromosome in the body’s cells. Average survival times for babies born alive with full trisomy 13 are two weeks or less.  

Despite the considerable impact that Patau Syndrome has on Natalia she is a happy child who loves to spend time with her sister.