Smile Train UK – the world’s largest cleft charity – releases a series of unfiltered images celebrating the beauty and diversity in smiles, to support their new nationwide campaign, Beauty in Every Smile.

Captured by London-based photographer Fanny Beckman, who is renowned for using art to raise awareness of social injustice and inequalities, the images feature 12 cleft-affected people from across the UK*, who have come to love their smiles after facing stigma, mistreatment and/or discrimination as a result of their facial difference.
Launched in time for World Smile Day® (6 October), the images are being showcased on giant 2-metre high panels in a public exhibition on London’s busy South Bank**, from 9am on Thursday 5 October to 4pm on Saturday 7 October.

Nischala Chitradurga (23, London), who was born with a cleft and features in the exhibition, says; “When I was younger, I experienced bullying. At school, children would call me names and make fun of my appearance because of my cleft, which was hurtful and challenging to deal with. And it wasn’t just at school; even random strangers would make hurtful comments about the scars on my face from my surgeries.

But over time, and with the support of my loved ones, I began to realise that my smile was a unique part of who I am. I learned to appreciate my smile as a symbol of resilience and strength. It became a source of pride rather than insecurity. So, to all those with a unique smile, I offer this advice: Embrace your uniqueness and wear it like a boss.”

Commenting on the exhibition images, Fanny Beckman, says: “Beauty in Every Smile has truly been a dream project to work on. Smile Train UK’s work is very much in line with my ethos and what I want to achieve with my photography: to raise awareness of stories that historically have been untold. Art is a powerful tool to use to start conversations, and I’ve been fortunate to meet many inspiring people during the photoshoots. I am grateful to all the models for sharing their experiences, and for removing the stigma around being born with a cleft.”

You can download the full set of images captured by Fanny here:

Smile Train UK also worked with video production agency, Red Kite Films, to create an emotive 2-minute video which tells the stories of four cleft-affected individuals – Dr Kiran Rahim (37), Christian Hadjipateras (39), Heidi Salt (20) and Elouan Biwole (14) – who are all featured in the exhibition.