Before this year, Amplitude had never published a cover image submitted by an amputee photographer. We’ve now done so twice in 2024.
Our January/February cover was shot by Patrick Pressgrove, a bilateral leg amputee from Houston whose portfolio includes work for numerous national magazines and major sportswear brands. And this issue’s cover comes from Samantha Tokita, a congenital below-knee amputee who earlier this year received a competitive grant from Getty Images for photographers with disabilities.
“I feel close to people when I photograph them,” Tokita told us. “I think they show parts of themselves that you maybe don’t get to see on the surface.” She trains her lens on models with disabilities because, she explains, “it’s important to me that we see the many facets of a disabled body—not just the strength and beauty, but the layers beneath that. We are strong because we have been broken.”
That depth of perception made Tokita a perfect fit for Getty’s grant competition, which promotes “unfiltered portrayal[s] of the emotional richness, strength, and sheer joy that permeates the disability community…. By capturing moments of exuberance, self-assuredness, and triumph, submissions will provide a fresh perspective on the intrinsic beauty that resides within every body.”
Those qualities shine through not only in Tokita’s cover shot of Celia Flores, but also in “More Than Skin Deep,” the accompanying article that showcases half a dozen of Tokita’s striking photographs. Turn to page 28 to see those images, then visit our website to read our interview with Tokita and learn about her life and her creative process.
You’ll find work from another amputee visual artist elsewhere in this issue. Paul Demeyer, an Emmy-nominated television and movie animator, began drawing sketches to process his emotions while recovering from bilateral leg amputation. The sketches gradually began arranging themselves into a narrative, and before he knew it Demeyer was writing a memoir of limb loss, vision loss, type 1 diabetes, and spiritual exploration. Read his story and see some of his work in “Limb Loss, Just as He Pictured It,” starting on page 18.
In addition to photos and handmade illustrations, this issue explores a type of image everyone makes: self-image. Angelina Martinson explains how her view of herself was distorted by internalized ableism, which she describes as amputees’ “compulsion to conceal our disability—to deny part of our identity.” It took Martinson decades to recognize this unhelpful habit of mind. Shedding it has made her infinitely happier and healthier. The article is titled “Our Own Worst Enemies,” and it begins on page 12.
The always insightful and delightful Diane Theobald is back in our pages with “Silver Linings Playlist,” a track-by-track annotation of the songs that consoled her after the loss of her leg nine years ago. What began as Theobald’s “grief” playlist gradually evolved into a “gratitude” playlist. Turn to page 22 to follow her tuneful odyssey toward peace of mind.
Happy reading!
