About
The Journey
Bold Beauty Project (BBP) is a powerful visual arts exhibition that celebrates women with varying disabilities. Its creative, large-scale photographs, portrayed by award-winning photographers, coupled with the women’s personal stories, create a vivid and intimate portrait of women with disabilities today. The photos invigorate the current social movement for diversity and inclusion and serve to reimagine beauty in our world.
The project began in 2006 as Uncensored Life: Raw Beauty, the brainchild of Shelly Baer, LCSW, disability activist, and Vanessa Silberman, PR. Their goal was to create photo-stories of the model/participants that would shatter preconceived paradigms of beauty. Donations benefitted the Center for Independent Living. In 2015, the project reorganized under a new name, Bold Beauty Project, and with a new team. We welcomed Dr. Eva Ritvo, M.D., co-author of The Beauty Prescription and founder of BeKindr, as co-director. She is committed to helping all women embrace their inner and outer beauty.
Our replication packages are designed so cities anywhere in the world can host their own BBP exhibits. The power of each exhibition is in using local community resources, models and photographers.
We are also developing global “communities of bold beauties” through Instagram and Facebook. We hope they will serve as role models for all those who may be feeling isolated, excluded or marginalized because of a disability.
OUR MISSION: As an innovative visual arts exhibition, Bold Beauty Project seeks to create social change by utilizing art at the intersection of beauty and disability.
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