When I See a Girl
When you see a little girl, what you actually think about her?
An innocent girl with full of happiness, full of youth, full of hope? A girl who will grow up in the society with all the positive energies surrounding her? A girl who has a joyful childhood, will have a wonderful, educated youth and be a proud mother?
But what if I tell you, the girl may not have a joyful childhood, may not have a well-educated youth, and so much negativity is poured on her by the society?
In many societies of many countries, girls often face many negative experiences that we may not know about, like Eve teasing, raping, child marriage, child labor, racism, etc. These are the curses of a society and for a young girl also. A girl may feel some negativity around her by the society during some stages of her lifetime.
In your thought, what will be a girl facing many negative experiences look like? Darkness is often considered to be the symbol of negativity. So, when I see a young girl around me, I sometimes imagine her covered with darkness.
All of the photos are manipulated digitally. Initially, the photos are taken in color and post-processed afterward. I want to use those faceless portraits to represent girls who are victims of social prejudices and stereotypes. I have made this work to raise a concern and awareness of those social issues among people using these photos that are quite uncomfortable to see but also work as a kind of protest. The dark representation is disturbing, as is rape, trauma, gender discrimination, and many social issues. They have in common that people often ignore this kind of disturbing things and don't think about it enough. So, I have made this photo series to surprise people and make them think about the project's basic intention rather than the photos. Most of the models are my cousins, and all of the models are acknowledged about this visual approach.
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The links of international interviews and features on this project:
04: China