--- description: Nearly three years ago, Denis Darzacq began photographing people facing challenges such as cerebral palsy and Down’s Syndrome, which has culminated in a series called ACT, on display at New York City’s Laurence Miller Gallery though June 15. title: ‘Act’: Meditations on the Disabled Body image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd6c763f3be4e6e0/69879db0f887dcaaf6e8be6a/act-55-gladys-foggea.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 'Act': Meditations on the Disabled Body by [Feifei Sun](/author/feifei-sun/) ## Feifei Sun Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 13, 2012 8:00 AM CUT  Gladys Foggea. Act 55. Gladys Foggea. Act 55.Denis Darzacq courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery by [Feifei Sun](/author/feifei-sun/) ## Feifei Sun Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 13, 2012 8:00 AM CUT “Physically and psychologically disabled people still aren’t very well accepted in society,” says photographer Denis Darzacq. “And this is a situation that artists have to take care of.” More than two years ago, Darzacq began photographing people facing challenges such as cerebral palsy and Down’s Syndrome, which has culminated in a series called ACT, on display at New York City’s Laurence Miller Gallery though June 15\. Darzacq worked with his subjects to think of poses that would capture the mood of his previous series, HYPER, in which teenagers and young adults tumbled and danced through bright and modern supermarkets in Europe. “The images in HYPER had young, powerful men and women,” the Paris-based photographer says. “I want to do the same images with people who have had trouble finding a place in society from the beginning of their lives.” The series has taken him to the United States, the United Kingdom and France as Darzacq has worked with various organizations to find his subjects, with whom he collaborated on movements as well as location scouting. “I wanted them to get into reality—the real spaces of cities because they belong to the society, too,” he says. “I told them, ‘If you want to go to museum, park or city hall—let’s go there and try to find the image that you want to express.’” The photographer’s favorite moment came during a shoot with the actors of a theater company in Bradford, England. “One guy told me, ‘Denis you made a mistake,’ and he corrected my English,” Darzacq says. “I was teaching them something about photography, and they were teaching me about language. Suddenly, it was a wonderful moment of sharing.” [_Denis Darzacq_](http://www.denis-darzacq.com/ "undefined") _is a Paris-based photographer and member of_ [_Agence VU_](http://www.agencevu.com/ "undefined")_._ ACT _is on view through June 15 at the_ [_Laurence Miller Gallery_](http://www.laurencemillergallery.com/darzacq%5Fact.html "undefined") _in New York City._  Act 44. Denis Darzacq courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery  Adrien Kempa. Act 29. Denis Darzacq courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery  Amjad Daleem. Act 02. Denis Darzacq courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery  Charline Barboutie et Vincent Languille. Act 25. Denis Darzacq courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery  Groupe 03\. Act 08. Denis Darzacq courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery  Jean Pierre Menez. Act 01. Denis Darzacq courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery  Jack Riley. Act 41. Denis Darzacq courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery  Boubacar Konate. Act 05. Denis Darzacq courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery  Act 21. Denis Darzacq courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery  Israr Abbas. Act 52. Denis Darzacq courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery  Susan Middleton et Alan Clay. Act 37. Denis Darzacq courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery  Gladys Foggea. Act 55. Denis Darzacq courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery  Groupe 01\. Act 50. Denis Darzacq courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery  Daniel Collier. Act 11. Denis Darzacq courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/42235/act/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/42235/act/"},"headline":"'Act': Meditations on the Disabled Body","datePublished":"2012-04-13T08:00:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:42:00.842Z","description":"Nearly three years ago, Denis Darzacq began photographing people facing challenges such as cerebral palsy and Down’s Syndrome, which has culminated in a series called ACT, on display at New York City’s Laurence Miller Gallery though June 15.","url":"https://time.com/42235/act/","keywords":["LightBox","Art","photography","portraits","Out There","disabilities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd6c763f3be4e6e0/69879db0f887dcaaf6e8be6a/act-55-gladys-foggea.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Feifei Sun","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/feifei-sun/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd6c763f3be4e6e0/69879db0f887dcaaf6e8be6a/act-55-gladys-foggea.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Act-55-Gladys-Foggea-","caption":"Gladys Foggea. Act 55.","creditText":"Denis Darzacq courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-lightbox/","name":"LightBox"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/42235/act/","name":"'Act': Meditations on the Disabled Body"}}]}] ```