Photographer Jonathan May, 34, met Stanford, the boy in the picture, in 2011. May was visiting the blind school in Kenya where he previously took photographs and where, for $1.30 a day, he sponsors the schooling of a young girl, Teresa.
He looks so vulnerable, I wanted him to look strongChatting with Teresa's teacher, May spotted Stanford, who boards at the school, and was stopped dead mid-sentence. "I saw this young boy blindly stumbling along," he recalls. "I couldn't stop staring."
Stanford had baby soft, smooth skin on his hands and feet, but his skin appeared to be melting down his mutilated face.
Stanford's mother and three siblings were among the 600,000 forced to flee their homes after the volatile 2007 election, which left 1200 people dead.
While Stanford, born partially blind, was living at a refugee camp, where there was little shelter from the harsh sun, his condition really deteriorated. Scabs and blood now spot his forehead. He has lost his nose and with skin dripping down over his eyelids, he can now "only see a tiny bit". May says.
Despite this, the 12-year-old is incredibly "positive and outgoing".
"He loves cars and music... and wants to be a gospel singer, " says May who has since bought him an MP3 player jam-packed with gospel music.
Along with one of the blind teachers from the school, May and Stanford drove the six hours to the refugee camp where the youngster's family still live.
On the way there they got lost several times and May was able to see the reaction of others to Stanford's condition.
"People would come up to help with directions and would jump back in shock [when they saw him]," May says. "They were genuinely scared. I was glad he couldn't see."
Back at the camp, May photographed his willing subject cradling his cherished pet dog. He wears a Spider-Man costume that May bought for him.
"He looks so vulnerable, I wanted him to look strong," May says. He also wanted people to see the child instead of the freak. "I wanted him to look like a normal kid."
The powerful picture has had the desired effect. On Saturday, May won the Head On Portrait Prize, which is a part of Australia's largest photo festival and the world's second largest festival.
He is using the $5000 prize money to pay for Stanford's treatment.
May phoned Stanford's mother on the night he won to tell her the news. "She was over the moon," he says. "She was so excited.
"First we need a proper diagnosis to find out exactly what [the skin condition is]," May says.
He has arranged for someone to take Stanford to a hospital in Nairobi to do this. Once they know what they're dealing with "it's a question of how... whether he can be treated locally or needs to be flown over here".
Either way, the picture of Stanford's future is looking as positive as the little boy himself.
