Mijn zachtste huid - My softest skin

 

My softest skin. About life with burns. A book in collaboration with the Belgian Burns Foundation, 2009.

 

Lieve Blancquaert interviews and photographs ten people scarred by burns. From a child who got boiling sugar water all over him to a fireman who was surprised by a fireball, but still remained a fireman.

 

Some can hide the scars under their clothing, others are too badly burnt to escape the gaze of the outside world. But it is not just the skin that is gone. Sometimes their soul, their personality, is also completely shattered.

 

Scars from burns are soft. The stigma is hard. My softest skin is a book full of testimonies as well as images of people living with burns. How can we  understand people with scars better? Which taboos are still alive? Can scars also be beautiful?