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TYPE 1 TEEN

Help me make a more accurate picture of Type 1 Diabetes

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TYPE 1 TEEN

TYPE 1 TEEN

TYPE 1 TEEN

TYPE 1 TEEN

TYPE 1 TEEN

Help me make a more accurate picture of Type 1 Diabetes

Help me make a more accurate picture of Type 1 Diabetes

Help me make a more accurate picture of Type 1 Diabetes

Help me make a more accurate picture of Type 1 Diabetes

Christopher Manson
Christopher Manson
Christopher Manson
Christopher Manson
1 Campaign |
Toronto, Canada
$410 USD 8 backers
4% of $9,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal
INTRODUCTION

"Type 1 Teen" is a long-term photo-textual documentary project that proposes to explore and visually represent the daily lives of adolescents living with type 1 diabetes.


BACKGROUND

Although some photographers have touched upon the topic of type 1 diabetes, their funereal images of death and despair do not reflect the advances that have been made in controlling this disease. For example, some of the most recent images of diabetes to appear on the Magnum Photos site (one of the world's top photography cooperatives based in the US) were taken in Cambodia in 2007 by John Vink and Bruce Gilden in 2008. Their photos show ailing patients checking their blood sugar, injecting insulin and getting necrotic tissue removed. This demonstrates that despite major advances in the understanding and treatment of diabetes - for it has been ninety years since physician Frederick Banting co-discovered insulin, the hormone used to control diabetes - which have significantly improved the lives of its sufferers, the images associated with the disease remain largely bleak. It is this misrepresentation that my project "Type 1 Teen" will endeavor to correct.

TYPE 1 DIABETES


Diabetes is principally a disease of the pancreas; it exists in the blood, below the skin's surface. While photographing injections and blood tests attempts to focus on its physical manifestations, these images don't take into account the feelings of solitude, the responsibility and the psychosocial demands felt by its sufferers. These realities are best represented by adolescent subjects, whose frenetic and often uncompromising attitudes towards the world offer the most extreme environment for such an all-encompassing disease.

TYPE 1 DIABETES & ADOLESCENCE


To provide some context for this project, my work for the past two years has employed a combination of black and white documentary photography and hand-written text (in the form of my subject's diary entries) to explore both the objective and subjective experiences, respectively, of adolescents living their day-to-day lives with type 1 diabetes. For instance, in 2009, I began documenting the life of Heather Choi, a 17-year-old girl living with type 1 diabetes in Toronto.

Teenage diabetics like Heather have more than their stockpile of insulin to contend with. At this developmental stage, most young people are seeking independence from parental control and established adult-dictated order. But a diabetic must stick to strict rules and regimens - quarterly visits to diabetes clinic for blood tests, set combinations of diet, exercise and insulin therapy - which can stifle their quest to become emancipated. Adolescence is also a time when peer pressure may force a diabetic to experiment with health-compromising behaviors such as smoking and drinking. In this climate, many elements of the diabetes self-care regimen pose unique problems.

THE NEXT STAGE


But Heather is only one example of a teen living with diabetes, a middle-class and compliant example at that. As non-adherence within the adolescent diabetes community continues to rise, documenting the lives of teens from varied socioeconomic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds would provide a more accurate understanding of what it is like for the average adolescent to live with type 1 diabetes. While I have photographed a teenager with type 1 diabetes in an urban center (Toronto), what must daily life be like for teenagers living in high-risk communities that exist in North America, such as those living in South Carolina, Washington State and Ohio where incidence of Type 1 diabetes is highest, or those living in Canada’s rural remote Northern Territories? These are the questions I will endeavor to answer with your help by traveling to these areas.


HOW YOUR FUNDING WILL HELP MAKE A DIFFERENCE

My aim is to travel to several diverse communities in North America to photograph and collect personal hand-written accounts of adolescents’ experiences of living with Type 1 diabetes and create a free, interactive, universally accessible project website - type1teen.com - to share their stories. This site will serve as a resource for diabetic teenagers all over the world; it will provide a view of divergent coping strategies and help overcome the sense of isolation and alienation felt by many adolescents struggling to control the disease.

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Choose your Perk

For a contributuion of

$10 USD
You'll receive access to a work-in-progress blog providing updates on the project as I photograph.
1 claimed

For a contributuion of

$25 USD
You'll receive an email personally thanking you for your support + access to a work-in-progress blog providing updates on the project as I photograph.
4 claimed

For a contributuion of

$75 USD
You'll receive a hand-written �Thank You� note personally thanking you for your support + exclusive access to a work-in-progress blog providing updates on the project as I photograph.
0 claimed

For a contributuion of

$100 USD
You'll receive one, signed, 4" × 6" b&w print with images from “Type 1 Teen” + a hand-written ‘Thank You’ note personally thanking you for your support + access to a work-in-progress blog providing updates on the project as I photograph.
2 claimed

For a contributuion of

$250 USD
You'll receive five, signed, 4" � 6" b&w prints with images from �Type 1 Teen� + a hand-written �Thank You� note personally thanking you for your support + access to a work-in-progress blog providing updates on the project as I photograph.
0 claimed

For a contributuion of

$500 USD
You'll receive ten, signed, 4" � 6" b&w prints with images from �Type 1 Teen� + a hand-written �Thank You� note personally thanking you for your support + access to a work-in-progress blog providing updates on the project as I photograph.
0 claimed

For a contributuion of

$1,000 USD
You'll receive a portfolio of six (extremely limited edition) signed 10" � 8" b&w prints with images from �Type 1 Teen� + recognition on the supporters page of the �Type 1 Teen� website + a hand-written �Thank You� note personally thanking you for your support + access to a work-in-progress blog providing updates on the project as I photograph.
0 claimed

For a contributuion of

$5,000 USD
You'll receive a portfolio of ten (extremely limited edition) signed 10" � 8" b&w prints with images from �Type 1 Teen� + recognition on the supporters page of the �Type 1 Teen� website + a hand-written �Thank You� note personally thanking you for your support + access to a work-in-progress blog providing updates on the project as I photograph.
0 claimed

For a contributuion of

$10,000 USD
Your name and/or association name will be listed as a Primary Supporter at future exhibitions, artist talks, lectures, articles in the media, and on the �Type 1 Teen� website + a one-of-a-kind print portfolio of twenty 10" � 8" signed b&w photographs from �Type 1 Teen� + a hand-written �Thank You� note personally thanking you for your support + access to a work-in-progress blog providing updates on the project as I photograph.
0 claimed
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