Project STORIES – Agata
25. January 2024
STORIES – when a picture is worth a thousand words… This project is here for you if you are feeling miserable, depressed, unhappy or desperate. Whenever I was really down, I told myself that I could always give up but at least before that I can try to make something good out of my life. Like they say, everything bad is good for some reason. And project STORIES is about people who had good reason to feel down, but decided to live their lives in a way that they could enjoy despite all the adversity. That’s what we have in common, and that’s why I’m so good at taking pictures, and that’s also why I choose the specific people who appear in the project accordingly. Our disabilities, traumas or worries don’t have to define us. We can define ourselves by how we approach it. And although it’s often very difficult, I just have to decide that this is not how I want to live my life anymore and start finding my own way.
Agáta, alopecia
This is Agi or Agáta. She has alopecia. You might have seen her in the For Normal Girls project or at TEDxPragueWomen, where she talks about herself as a bald flight attendant. We met years ago through dogs. We’ve had the same breed since we were kids. She’s always has tons of positive energy. Plus, my dogs had a Christmas of having a proper dog auntie that came over to play with them. From the first moment she outted herself publicly, I knew she was the one for this project. Maybe you ask why? Hair – so called crown of beauty. Girls puts bunch of makeup on themselves to get closer to the ideal hair is included in this image of course? It’s because Agi decided to let her hair down, admit it, stop beating herself up so much for that. And also because she realized it would be nice to talk about alopecia, because she is not alone in the world like that and pity doesn’t help anyone, but it helps when one finds out that there are others with the same problem. She decided to be a role model, to live a perfectly normal life and know how to enjoy it and deal with prejudice. I adore her for her attitude. She refers to her illness as a merciful disease where she only misses her hair, but it has a bunch of benefits like not shaving her legs for 5 years. And sure, there were a lot of things that hurted or there are days when she don’t want to hear questions about whether she is dying of cancer, but the positives outweigh that. Agi is beautiful inside out ❤️.
You can watch her speach in CZ at TEDxPragueWomen
The following photo does not belong in STORIES and at the same time it absolutely positively belongs in it and I will explain why. It was taken by accident, it was not planned. Agi told me her story – what it was like when she lost her hair at nineteen. As a young girl, she wanted to date and once went on a date where she and her counterpart talked about body positivity. Her suitor talked about it so passionately that Agáta decided to ask the hard way what if he was dating a girl who didn’t have hair. And he responded something like, you know, I don’t think I’d make that, hair is just a crown of beauty, and she did the only thing she could. She took off her wig and told him that they probably wouldn’t get along in that case. And that’s when it clicked and I said, “Hang on!” Agáta didn’t quite understand what was going on and I came back a moment later with the headpiece I had prepared for Saint Mary and I told her, “But you have a beauty crown!”. Maybe a bit of a revenge beauty crown, but you can probably tell I had to take a picture of it. 
So this photo somehow doesn’t belong in STORIES in terms of visual style, but it totally does in terms of story. Agi told me she felt really sorry for the boy afterwards. That you could see that he messed up and that he was sorry, but at the same time it hurt her a lot. And why am I writing all this? Because sometimes we hurt a lot, even unintentionally, sometimes by accident, sometimes we are downright unlucky and life punishes us for our own stupidity.
It took Agáta some time to accept alopecia as a part of herself. She didn’t want to become bitter. On the contrary, she wanted to show others that the world doesn’t stand on hair. That she donot have to hide. And she realized that right now, maybe a little girl is struggling with the same issue and needs support. But with alopecia, she also accepted the fact that she attracts attention and when she wants to be quiet and blend in, she just puts her wig on. She keeps spreading awareness about this disease and even though things are much better now and there are more people like her, at the moment she needed help herself, there was no one there for her except those closest to her. Her beauty crown shines, not with gold, but with optimism and a unique attitude not only towards herself but also towards others. That’s why I took the liberty of breaking down the visual concept of STORIES for a bit and brought you this photo as well. Do you like it?
The more people I hear from, the better the concept of STORIES crystallizes. I had to read and replay each story many times in order to understand what I intuitively felt. That this series is about showing the right ‘role models’. Tough stories with a ‘good ending’. People who were able to grapple with adversity in unique ways. And that we can handle really hard things even when we suffer the consequences. So on the one hand, yes, it’s “just” hair, but when you have it, you don’t deal with it. When you don’t have it, you’re exposing your weakness, everyone can see it and can pont out your sensitive spot. We’re used to men having alopecia, but not with women. The first thought tends to be cancer. This is usually followed by expressions of regret. But I’m certainly not just speaking for women with alopecia. There are different reasons for hair loss. Like trichotillomania, where the patient pulls his own hair out, or hormonal disorders. I’m sure you’ve heard at least once in your lifetime that someone’s hair fell out under a lot of stress. I have a special place for those people, so don’t be afraid to contact me.
What about you? Do you have a story too? Is it visible? Or is it not visible, but you’re not afraid to share with the world what you’re struggling with? Great, write me!
And even if you don’t have a story right now, you can help us a lot by sharing, commenting and liking. We’re all doing this project because it makes sense to us to show the world from the sides where the sun doesn’t always shine, but there is always a hope. Help this project grow. I’ve already photographed other beautiful personalities for you and there’s a lot to look forward to. As I hope I, and all those who have already been involved or will be involved in the near future, will get this series far enough that it will not only have a positive impact on viewers/readers, but that eventually we will be able to use STORIES to help someone specific as well. Spread the word, pass this idea on and maybe you’ll be the one to deliver it to someone who needs it most at this moment ❤️
headpiece/beauty crown – Thessa Dela Technique
More about Agáta (mostly in CZ):
Agáta’s Instagram
Paruky střídám podle nálady a oblečení, říká dívka, která trpí alopecií
Letuška Agáta přišla o vlasy kvůli alopecii. Pláč vystřídal břitký humor
Alopecie je spíše handicap, který zdravotně neubližuje
Besides sharing you can support our partner organizations:
Support Centrum Paraple either by DMS, by paying into an account or by buying merch (they have the perfect Batman limited edition right now)
Support Nadační fond Klapeto (foundation) or if you have a business, you can support Handicap Coffee
And if you can’t support them financially right now, share this story and help us to get it out to more people. Right now there is someone in a tough life situation and it might help help this person to at least read about people who have chosen to deal with adversity in an inspiring way. Help this project grow and we will try to turn it into real help. Sharing will help us a lot.
Thank you very much!
Lucie Kout
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