Words + Images

fashion illustration by zoe langosy

In the Shadow of the Sun is a 2013 documentary directed and produced by Harry Freeland. I saw it for the first time a few weeks ago on PBS. As described on the film’s website, it was filmed over six years and tells the story of two albino people, one a successful older man and one a young boy, both living in Tanzania. The viewer learns of the myths that have come to be associated with these white people, the taunts endured, and in recent years the ritualized mutilations and murders. You also see people overcoming oppression, children striving to learn and to be seen as equal and indeed beautiful, and parents doing all they can to make their dreams reality.

While researching the film and trying to learn more about albinism, a condition that can affect people of all ethnicities, I came across recent articles about albino fashion models. There were a sequence of images of young people with an absence of melanin in their skin, ghostly, different and fiercely defiant in their attitude to be labeled as anything but beautiful. Fashion has been on my mind a great deal given the collaboration taking place with Zoe Langosy, so I sent her a random note asking, without really expecting an answer, how would an artist illustrate an albino. She sent a note back sharing she had done so as part of her honors thesis where she had produced a book, The Marriage of Fashion and Nature.

fashion illustration by zoe langosy

“It was a year long project. I decided to do a series of images depicting fashion made out of nature. At that stage, as a young student, my purpose was to create a perfect character and for this scene I just instinctively chose an albino and dressed him in a kimono made of pussy willows.”

With each image, including that of the albino is lyrical text.  While yet unpublished, following are a few glimpses of this beautiful handmade book.

Sources & Additional Reading

The Marriage of Fashion and Nature by Zoe Langosy (unpublished)

In the Shadow of the Sun (2012)

Zoe Langosy Website

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