Sunday, December 19, 2021

Sisters + Movement, Uttar Pradesh, India, 2020



This is a silver gelatin print of two sisters made by me, the photographer, in my own darkroom. It is printed on Ilford MGIVWT glossy fiber 11x14 paper, and toned in selenium for permanence. It is processed in a Zone VI washer to archival standards, and allowed to dry overnight on a screen. The camera/lens combination was a Hasselblad 501CM/180mm, and the frame was exposed onto Ilford Delta 100. This frame is from a library of well over 300,000 negatives exposed over the last 24 years, from four continents and a dozen countries. Every person is spoken with prior to the portrait, and the process is explained fully. Most of my work is on film, and the countries are revisited year after year in order to continue the documentation of the same families, of the same communities. 

These girls attend a religious school six days a week, and endure a most conservative society day to day. We have worked with this school for the past eight years and hope to support their headmaster with his vision to bring a more rounded curriculum to his school. Eleven frames were exposed prior to this one, and the girls thought that their time in front of the lens was over. So they started to walk away when the shutter was released... documenting the smile that most of the girls give when they relax and walk away.

The purpose of selling these portraits on Etsy is to support the social work being accomplished through my photography. Presently we have six sewing centers in two states of India, serving both the Hindu and the Muslim communities. In these sewing centers, young women learn a trade while also making clothing for their families. The centers are located in the rural areas, where young women have only one option normally, marriage and a family. At this moment, due to COVID-19, the work is on hold. However, we plan to restart the centers in 2022 and the funds from the sale of these portraits will be applied to the work in India.

As a side note, my belief is that you will be very pleased with the print in person, as the tones of a silver gelatin print are difficult to represent through the screen. One may sense the surface of the print by looking at the gloss in certain areas of the print's surface. In the end, the print you will receive will be slightly different than the one represented on the screen, both in tone and in emotional impact... different in the best sense of the word. Every print is an original, and my hope is that it finds a good space in your home.

Each print will be signed and dated by me, the photographer, and numbered to a maximum of 50 prints (11x14) per negative. 

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