About

The T21 Project, Inc. is a photography project and 501(c)(3) organization highlighting individuals with trisomy 21, also known as Down syndrome.

My name is Juliet Furst and I’m an artist and photographer from North Carolina. This project was inspired by my younger sister Evangeline who has Down syndrome, and whose story I’ve for a long time wanted to tell in photographs. (You can meet her here!)

When Evangeline was a child, I remember being struck by just how busy she was—and is—throughout the week, going from basketball practice one day to theater rehearsal another, ending with gymnastics or dance by the end of the week, always with school fit into the hours in between. Her growing list of hobbies and interests seemed as normal as any other kid’s, so I wondered what it was that the rest of the world seemed to see as different, or rather too different. To me, everything about this picture was that of any other kid I knew. The same favorite movies, favorite sports, favorite dance numbers, favorite lunch spots.

That became the goal: to document in words and photos the hobbies, abilities, pastimes, and everyday lives of individuals with Down syndrome, in hopes of reinforcing a phrase I’ve heard said about this extraordinary group of people: they’re more alike than different.

Interested in participating? Click here to apply!