’Look at me’ demands a new exhibition of sensual photographs of disabled women. Laura Davis meets its creator

SHE sits in a striking Amazonian pose, hair pulled back and her expression confident, the very image of vitality and strength.

But the woman in the photo, like all those featured in the images on display, has a disability.

Hers is more obvious than some – a metal brace strapped to her left leg, misshapen from contracting polio as a three-month-old baby.

Yet it isn’t the first thing you notice when looking at the photograph, and it certainly isn’t the most memorable.

Marlene Le Roux is the South African disability rights activist behind Look at Me, a touring exhibition on display in St George’s Hall that aims to challenge everyday perceptions of what it is to be disabled.

The pictures have been taken by acclaimed Czech fashion photographer Lucie Pavlovich, who has worked for a range of glossy magazines including Cosmopolitan.

“People with disability are invisible,” says Le Roux, in her musical South African accent.

“It’s my job to make them visible. We are there. Don’t look away – look at me.”

Essential to the project, which comes with an accompanying book, was that the women featured should be comfortable with their physicality.