Sane, courageous voices have emerged from different nooks of the country. A group of women who worked as manual scavengers in Rajasthan, now rehabilitated, work in beauty parlours and take up tailoring orders. Abheena and Amitava, one facing social stigma as a hijra and a transgender, now strive to create awareness for HIV. A few survivors of acid attacks have floated the Stop Acid Attacks movement. Manju, with nerves of steel, works with sex workers of Shivdaspur, Varanasi, and there’s Sheela, who helps disabled children. Then, there are the widows of Vrindavan whose radiant smiles say it all.
Projecting these stories in striking colours is photographer Pascal Mannaerts in his photo project ‘Fate breakers’, now on display at Alliance Francaise. Pascal tells us, “So many women can be considered fate breakers, but I focused on six stories as this combination represented people of different ages, social conditions and ways of life.”
Pascal has visited India 10 times and his keen eye looked beyond touristy images. “I’m always interested in showing human aspects of the places I visit. Like everywhere, here I found difficult situations and was touched by the way women can deal with them,” he says. Pascal had already presented a collection of pictures in Brazil, of women he photographed in different countries he had visited. He intended to continue this work in India. “This collection portrays stories of women fighting against prejudice, be it from birth, from life’s perils, or from intolerance and disrespect towards the other.”
A few of these stories, like those of the widows of Vrindavan and the acid attack survivors, have often been highlighted. Pascal’s camera also brings to fore lesser known stories, from the ghetto of Varanasi to the rehabilitation of manual scavengers in Rajasthan. Pascal had visited Varanasi many times and had heard about Manju and her work for the NGO Guria. For manual scavengers, he took help of a friend who works for Sulabh international. “For me, taking pictures of people is all about a ‘human being’ in front of the camera, and about ‘being human’ myself. One must respect the culture and be aware of the traditions of people you want to photograph. If your behaviour is kind and respectful, they open up naturally,” he underlines.
The challenge for him was to get organised, make contacts, and know where to find people. “I always explained the project to the women when I met them for the first time. The optimism and/or the pride of these women overpower the sadness. People ask me if it was tough to make the women feel comfortable as a male photographer and a foreigner, but it wasn’t,” he says. Pascal narrates how a few of the older women in Vrindavan initially didn’t want to be photographed but once the ice was broken, were eager to be photographed.
He has fond memories of being welcomed into modest homes of people in Alwar and Tonk. “It was incredible. I had the same feeling when I was with Manju and Sheela-ji in Varanasi. I was amazed at their dedication to their work. Manju was threatened many times. We went to the red district near Varanasi railway station, where she teaches the children of sex workers at a house. She asked me to be discreet with my camera; I had to hide it and not take pictures outside. And there she is, in the middle of it all, working while being aware that someone could be lurking for her at the corner of the street.”
Pascal wants to continue the idea of Fate Breakers in Europe and Africa, particularly African asylum seekers in Belgium. “There are so many stories to collect,” he says.
Fate Breakers is on at Alliance Francaise till June 17.
