Niccolo Cosme (born May 15, 1980 in

Cavite Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite ( tl, Lalawigan ng Kabite; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Located on the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest ...

, Philippines) is a conceptual photographer based in

Manila, Philippines Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...

. His father is Caesar Colet Cosme, a television writer and director. He was part of '' Celebrity Duets: Philippine Edition'' Season 3, an interactive reality based singing contest which was produced by

Fremantle Media Fremantle (; formerly FremantleMedia) is a British multinational television production and distribution company based in London. Fremantle takes its name from Fremantle International, acquired by predecessor company All American Television in ...

and

Simon Cowel Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of ''The X Factor'' and ''Got Talent'' franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on t ...

which also produced the original version in the United States. The Philippine edition was broadcast in

GMA 7 DZBB-TV, Channel 7 (analog) and Channel 15 (digital), is the flagship TV station of Philippine television network GMA. The station is owned and operated by GMA Network Inc. with its studios are located at the GMA Network Center, EDSA corner ...

Advocacy

An outspoken

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

activist he hosted the "I Am Not Immoral" photo exhibition to protest against the exclusion of the LGBT " Ang Ladlad" list from elections in 2010. Cosme is also an HIV/AIDS awareness advocate; he started The Red Whistle campaign in 2011 to raise awareness and understanding of

HIV/AIDS in the Philippines The Philippines has one of the lowest rates of infection of HIV/AIDS, yet has one of the fastest growing number of cases worldwide. The Philippines is one of seven countries with growth in number of cases of over 25%, from 2001 to 2009. Cases are ...

Awards and recognition

His interest in

Christian iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

won him the international photographic competition by the

Professional Photographers of America Professional Photographers of America (PPA) is a nonprofit trade association of professional photographers. As of August 2022, PPA has 34,000 members. History 19th century The association began in December 1868 as the National Photographic Ass ...

held in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

in 2011. In February 2012, Cosme received the

Ani ng Dangal Ani ng Dangal or "Harvest of Honors" is an organizational award given by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, an agency under the Office of the President of the Republic of the Philippines. It is an annual event in the Philippines cel ...

or "Harvest of Honors" together with 32 other

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

artists from different fields by the

National Commission for Culture and the Arts The National Commission for Culture and the Arts of the Philippines ( fil, Pambansang Komisyon para sa Kultura at mga Sining, ceb, Nasodnong Komisyon alang sa Budaya ug mga Arte) is the official government agency for culture in the Philippines. ...

Popular works

In 2007, Cosme started "Project Headshot Clinic", a digital concept that merges profile photos used online with advertisement and/or advocacies. He sees profile photos as "online billboards" which caught the attention of some of the big brands in the Philippines and international entities such as the

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) (, ONUSIDA) is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The mission of UNAIDS is to lead, strengthen and support an e ...

(UNAIDS). In 2008, he took this project to other countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Macau. He also conceptualized and produced a series he called "COSME XXX" in 2010 as his personal tribute to "pain", one of his greatest inspirations. This series featured a number of images inspired by

Christian Iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

such as the Madonna, the Crucifixion and the Pieta. In May 2011, he collaborated with the Department of Foreign Affairs (Philippines), FSI (Foreign Service Institute), ACHIEVE (Action for Health Initiatives, Inc.) and

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

(United Nations Development Program) with his photo exhibit "Resplendor" (Blinding Light), a series depicting the different realities of HIV/AIDS in the Philippines.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cosme, Niccolo Filipino photographers Filipino LGBT artists 1980 births Living people HIV/AIDS activists Conceptual photographers People from Cavite Participants in Philippine reality television series