Approximately 1% of the populations of the world living in industrialized
countries are affected nowadays by rheumatoid arthritis. Women are more
affected than men. About 75% of rheumatoid arthritis patients are women.
Autoimmune diseases are illnesses that occur when the body's tissues are
mistakenly attacked by their own immune system. Antibodies, designed normally
to "seek and destroy" invaders of the body, target instead their own body tissues.
As a result, joints are affected by chronic pain and loss of function. Muscles are
stiff and unable to move. The more the body attacks itself denying its daily
motion activities, the more an intervention of external bodies (drugs,
medications, prosthesis) is required in order to guarantee the limbs’ regular
function. Still Beauty investigates human fragility on entering the private world
of a young woman affected by rheumatoid arthritis. The series intends to draw a
journey between beauty and vulnerability through the gestures and objects that
accompany her daily life. The action takes place within the restricted boundaries
of her bedroom over a period of several months.

Ottavia Castellina is a fine art photographer based between Turin and London.
Born in Turin in 1977, she graduated in History of Art at the Art, Music and
Theatre University (Turin). After moving to London in 2004 she began working
in photography completing an MA in Photography at the London College of
Communication in 2008. Over the past years her photographs have won several
awards and have been widely exhibited both nationally and internationally.
Recently Ottavia was awarded an artistic residency at Khoj International Artist
Association in New Delhi, where she completed a site‐specific photography
project and installation about ‘ladies special’ trains and metro compartments in
India major cities.

If you would like to attend the Still Beauty exhibition, please RSVP to ruth@nras.org.uk