Nicola Lo Calzo

Morgante tells the story of people sharing a common denominator: being dwarfs.

Photographer Nicola Lo Calzo, has spent winter 2010 in Cameroon, documenting the social condition of those affected by dwarfism which, at best generates indifference, at worst despise and fear. In contact with the local ASCAPPT (Association Camerounaise des Personnes de Petite taille), he has shared the lives of dwarfs, from Yaounde to Douala, from Bafoussam to Kribi. As the Cameroonese state will not offer financial support to them, many of the people he encountered live in precarious conditions. It is only thanks to their families looking after them that they survive, although many do actually have a job which, they can hardly live from as the outside world’s gaze will prevent them from accessing the public space.
This isolation generally starts during their childhood, as many families with dwarfs, because of superstition, fear being associated with witchcraft. During most of their lives, small size people will be looked down on childishly, and thus will be denied the respect and autonomy they deserve as full grown up adults.

The photographer has chosen to portray them in their intimacy and in their daily lives: seen at work, at home, or in the streets, Fidel, Kwedi and Babel are no longer the victims of their size. Quite on the contrary, they have become the main characters of the shooting set, as well as the actors of their own lives.