Reflections on the “Clearly Me” Psoriasis Exhibit
The “Clearly Me” exhibit in New York, New York, held from May 16-18, showcased real psoriatic patients through dynamic photographic portraits, captured by photographer Lindsay Adler and sponsored by AbbVie. Adler and one of her subjects in the exhibit, DaQuane Cherry, spoke with Practical Dermatology about the entire experience.
Practical Dermatology: Why was this project important to you?
Lindsay Adler: Any time that you can elevate a subject that sometimes would be portrayed in a way where it's meant to show only suffering or pity, and instead celebrate individuals, that is one of the powerful things that photography can do. We have all seen many, many medical features, campaigns, or imagery showing someone who has an affliction, and the images are meant to make you sad. The entire goal of this project was to feature individuals—who they are, their passions, what brings them joy in life—and show them as vibrant rather than being held back by something in life.
DaQuane Cherry: Growing up dealing with psoriasis, I never had someone who looked like me, so I understood the importance of my own advocacy to showcase someone of color. We also have to deal with psoriasis, and we also manage our day-to-day lives in the simplest way. It's not such a taboo thing to talk about, and it's OK to express how you feel about being in your skin and living with this condition.
PD: Lindsay, what drew you to psoriasis in particular?
LA: I have worked with AbbVie several times in the past, and I have a really good working relationship with them, but one of the things that particularly drew me to this project was the fact that it was around skin. Skin is something that I photograph: different skin types and different skin textures. This was an opportunity for me to flatter these individuals and bring out the best of them. What was wonderful is that they didn't want me to showcase or not showcase the psoriasis. They said, “Listen, if a person has a flare up, show them as such. If the person doesn't, that's also fine.” It was about them, and skin was part of the story, but it wasn't their only story.
PD: Besides that approach, what else went into your strategy for the photography itself?
LA: What was really, really fun about this is that, unlike many campaigns with very strict guidelines for how to represent a brand, it was the stories of the individuals leading the way. For example, when we began this project, we spoke by phone with each subject for about an hour. I got to ask questions about their favorite singers and performers, style icons whose visual style drew them in, what their passions were, what their hobbies were, and how their friends and family would describe them. The goal was to get to know them and then let them lead the way visually, and AbbVie trusted me to use my style to elevate the individuals. On many commercial campaigns, you don't have that creative flexibility; also, in a vast majority of campaigns, the end result is not a gallery show. Some of these images were 40- by 60-inch prints. I was encouraged to make artistic images. You want people to walk in and be drawn to the images, wanting to read more about these subjects and their journeys. And the other benefit of the large prints was that we don't get to see that detail very often. You saw the skin in high definition, whether there was a flare up or not. That was something unique about this project and something I had to consider as I was planning to shoot, knowing that the photographs would be blown up to large prints and not just something tiny you'd see on your phone.
PD: What does that approach say to you about AbbVie’s general approach toward their patients?
LA: In a previous campaign with AbbVie, I photographed 100 different subjects in New York and Los Angeles for a project called the “Dream Initiative,” and the entire purpose of that project was to create a series of images showing extremely diverse individuals in groupings that you might not normally see, with different body types, gender identities, etc. The idea was to encourage more representation of different individuals. That was something else that I appreciated in this campaign as well; they picked a diverse group of people in terms of sexual orientation, body type, what they're passionate about, etc. In general, the brand truly seeks to represent different types of people.
DC: This is why I continue building such a beautiful relationship with AbbVie. It really just made me feel seen—that little inner child in me who grew up living with psoriasis, feeling very excluded in the world. AbbVie really helps me feel seen, and I'm sure that other little kids feel seen.
PD: DaQuane, what was the experience of the photo shoot like?
DC: I love taking photos, so it was just like clockwork for me. But the camaraderie and community that we had on set with everyone just being so open, honest, and creative, it was so freeing and it just made me feel like it was OK to be, like the title, clearly me.
PD: How did the exhibit itself go?
LA: Well, I'm biased as the photographer, but I think it went wonderfully. I did not intend for this to be anything but a celebration of the subjects, and they invited their friends and family to the opening night, but it was really sweet because, when I stepped in, everybody gave me a round of applause. In commercial photography and this type of work in general the photography is not the celebrated part; the message is. Instead, this felt very much like a collaboration, so that evening was all for us to celebrate each other. It was incredibly sweet. The gallery looked stunning. If we just had boring, bland photos of these individuals that weren't expressive and didn't tell their story, that would not be a draw for a gallery show. This was actually meant to be art, and I definitely think it achieved that.
DC: I was aware what the dimensions would be, and as an artist myself, I knew what that meant. But to see something in person is a whole different spectrum, so when I first walked in, I was like, “Wow, these are really huge.” I wasn't expecting that. Lindsay built such a story, and it was so in unison from all four different spectrums. It told our stories individually, but yet it was still so cohesive. That was something so beautiful to see, and it also just ties back into how, just because we all live different lives with this condition, we all have the common ground of having psoriasis. But look how beautifully we all flourish in our own paths.
PD: Lindsay, what have you learned from the patients and about psoriasis throughout the course of the project?
LA: I actually have someone close to me in my life who has psoriasis, and it was really interesting because I saw the experience and the journey of not being guided toward solutions. I got to hear just how much it affected these different individuals. For example, Ayesha talked about how she had lost her hair at one point, and how her hair had been part of her identity and part of her beauty. I didn't even know that could happen. I didn't realize how much psoriasis could affect somebody, but at the same time, they were all joyful, upbeat, and happy to be in front of the camera, whereas at certain times in their lives, depending on where they were in their psoriasis journeys, they may have strongly shied away from the camera and felt really insecure. It was also beautiful because they gave me their trust, which is something I love about photography; people trust you, and you help them feel self-confident, even if it wasn't necessarily there. That was a something that I really enjoyed, and several of the subjects sent me really, really heartfelt messages afterward. They told me that it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was something that they felt honored to be part of, and that's not something that you always get to experience in a commercial campaign.
PD: So the campaign accomplished its goal?
LA: I wanted people to walk into the gallery and it not scream, “Hey, this is about psoriasis.” You needed to read about it and be drawn in by something else in order to learn that. That's what held the people together. The goal was to allow people to feel like they could advocate for themselves, realizing that these individuals all suffered or had suffered in the past, or had the same afflictions that they did, but felt empowered. Hopefully, people were encouraged to visit psoriasis.com for more information on advocating for themselves.
DC: It was beautiful to see the community coming together to show support, but also, at least one person in there learned something new. That's the beauty of advocacy. Whether they were coming just to support their friend, their family member, their lover, or all the above, it was just coming in there. I know somebody in that group of community that night learned something new about psoriasis, and that's the overall spectrum of what we're trying to do. You just never really know who it’s going to touch; that's why I really started taking my advocacy more seriously; when I started, it was just telling my story, and within telling my story, someone else felt heard. That's my main takeaway from this event: Somebody was heard that never felt heard before. And you never know what they can do to make sure the next person is heard. I always tell people to love yourself. You are your longest and strongest relationship, and it takes a lot to really make sure you're OK, especially living with psoriasis, to really know that you're being seen and you're heard. If you don't feel it, there's someone out there who will hear you, so just keep searching, but love yourself while searching.