Bullying is the exposure of a child to physical and psychological damage intentionally and repeatedly by another individual, or a group of individuals when attending school. The harasser takes advantage of an imbalance of power that exists between him and his victim to get a benefit (material or not), while the harassed feels helpless. Bullying involves a continuous repetition of teasing or aggression and can cause social exclusion from the victim.

Almost a third of the world’s adolescents have recently suffered bullying in one way or another, according to data published for the first time by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), the official source of statistics for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal related to education.

The new data shows that bullying affects young people everywhere, in all regions and in countries with different income levels. The statistics were collected through school surveys that monitored the physical and emotional health of youth.

Photographer Lance Allen Reis decided to take a stand against bullying by giving a victim of bullying, 8 year old Race, the opportunity to become his favorite character in a photoshoot, “The Joker.”

“So Andrea came to me because her son Race is being bullied in school & he’s having a hard time right now. She said getting a photo with Batman would mean the world to him to which I replied, of course, that would be nice BUT what if we took it a step further and made him the Joker instead,” offered Lance.

Lance went with a Heath Ledger-style Joker and it fits perfectly well. “This kid is amazing and such a sweetheart. Race was ecstatic throughout the whole shoot. He does a really good job at hiding it in these photos but he was all smiles between takes.”

Coincidentally, the photographer can relate to Race, “Seeing the pain in his eyes completely took me back to when I was his age and relentlessly bullied. But as I told him we can get past it and grow up to do great things.”

The following is the result of this uplifting photoshoot:

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