Young Woman + Kanjar Community, Rajasthan, India

Let’s imagine for one minute sitting on a bench on the side of the road, looking into a mirror making sure the presentation is just right. Then imagine one of the countless truck drivers passing by notices and stops. The man then walks over to inquire about certain services. Then let’s imagine that our uncle comes over to agree on the price before we are expected to perform those services in our own home.

This is the reality for this young women, her aunts, her nieces and neighbors. Her community trades in sex, and the women are the products which the men of the community trade. 

Our minute of our imagination is her reality for 1,440 minutes each day.

Etsy 

Facebook

Instagram 

Website

Tumblr 

Twitter 

Two Refugees + Camp, Uttar Pradesh, India, 2013

This was the scene when I first visited this region in 2013, as these beautiful people were paying the price for the sectarian violence placed upon their shoulders. The families were doing their best to just provide shelter for their children, to provide a plate of food. Our hosts did something remarkable then, they gave their land for the sake of these refugees, actually signed the deeds to their land. It was this act of generosity which helped me decide that my work will continue here, and inspired me to present this new school to all of you!

They were displaced due to the riots in the Muzaffarnagar region of Uttar Pradesh. A short summary is included below from Wikipedia for everyone's review, and of course is only a basic reference. My experience was firsthand, and showed me the best of humanity in the midst of the worst. The scene of course was created by the latter, yet the resources put forth to aid the community showed the best of the former. 

When I returned to the region two years later, most of the camps were dismantled and the families had returned to their original villages. Although as a photographer I missed the children photographed two years earlier, I was truly happy that the were missing and back home.

Website

Tumblr

Twitter

Facebook
Instagram

Note: This image was made with a Sony RX100M2.

According to Wikipedia:

The clashes between the Hindu and Muslim communities in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, India in August–September 2013, resulted in at least 62 deaths including 42 Muslims and 20 Hindus and injured 93 and left more than 50,000 displaced. By 17 September, the curfew was lifted from all riot affected areas and the army was also withdrawn.

The riot has been described as "the worst violence in Uttar Pradesh in recent history", with the army, as a result, being deployed in the state for the first time in last 20 years. Supreme Court of India while hearing petitions in relation to the riots held the Akhilesh Yadav led Samajwadi Party, prima facie guilty of negligence in preventing the violence and ordered it to immediately arrest all those accused irrespective of their political affiliation. Court also blamed the Central government for its failure to provide intelligence inputs to the Samajwadi Party-ruled state government in time to help sound alerts.

Refugee + Wall of Fabric, Uttar Pradesh, India, November of 2013

Through the generosity of my friends Shari and John, this young girl found a new home this past weekend. In contrast to the peaceful environment in which her portrait will hang, she lives in a refugee camp located planets away from her original village. She and her community were forced to move out of their homes due to a storm of violence falsely perpetrated by some in the name of religion.

She now lives without running water, without electricity, without a school, without a bathroom, without medicine and without privacy as this image illustrates. We were walking within the camp as the sun rose to an almost unbearable height for portraits. This young girl and her friends were following us around, and we happened to be in their part of the camp when we thought about doing something different.

We asked her to stand behind the 'wall' of the tent, and she accepted without hesitation. We exposed a few frames as she listened to her friends' giggles, then thanked her and moved further up the camp. In this image, as in her life, the fabric is the only barrier between her and the environment, her only protection against a world often times cruel in nature.

The camps are located in Uttar Pradesh, and I look forward to visiting them once again with my dear friend Asrar. When asked about when we could visit these camps, this good man only responds in this way: we are working for humanity. This is the same answer he gives whenever I ask to go anywhere with him. So I have accepted this with humility and hope to do as he says in a week or so.

Website

Tumblr

Twitter

Note: This image was made with a Hasselblad 555 ELD/180 mm combination onto Fuji Neopan Acros 100 ISO film.

Child + Sex Trade, Nirvanavan Foundation, Alwar, Rajasthan, November 26, 2013

Most seeing portraits of the young girls in in my work from India think that they are boys, due to their short hair. This just so happens to be one of my favorite features, and makes for incredibly powerful portraits.

This specific one was made with Nirvana and his wonderful team at Nirvanavan Foundation. This was the fifth roll made on November 26 of 2013, while the team guided me through the villages in which they work. The foundation has set up schools for the children of the Nat and Kanjar Communities, in which traditional prostitution unfortunately thrives.

These very girls see on a daily basis the tragedy of the sex trade, watch their older sisters being sold by the men in their own families. Without the foundation this would be the only possibility for them as well. Nirvana and his team are doing the best that they can to present an alternative, and do so every single day without exception.

I admire and respect the path that they have chosen to walk, and hope to be there in the very near future alongside these incredible people.

www.halimina.org

Note: This image was made with a Hasselblad 555 ELD/180 mm combination onto Fuji Neopan Acros 100 ISO film.

Refugee + Fence, Uttar Pradesh, India, November of 2013

After we finished photographing the girls formally, we walked around and made some spontaneous images. The refugees in this camp had escaped ethnic violence just a few months earlier, and such could be felt through the expressions on the faces. In this image a young girl stood in front of her home, with this fragile fence as her protection. She lived without electricity, running water, education and medicine.

This is the face of those enduring the effects of violence the world over, she is the one that suffers while those with power wage campaigns to maintain their position. She will never understand what brought her to this place, what forced her family to abandon its home hundreds of miles away to live like refugees. We have a long way to go before we can hold our heads up high in her presence.

www.halimina.org

Tedx Talk - Refugee, Cleveland State University, October 25, 2015

This was the face that introduced the audience to my Tedx Talk this past Friday. Her portrait was the first in a series of images shown on the big screen behind me and to my right.

'The majority in the images lack access to the most basic of necessities, and hover around the poverty line. They endure a hand to mouth existence, day to day, year after year…' were the words as the portraits bled into each other.

My hope is that the images stuck in the collective mind, more so than my words.

www.halimina.org

Young Girl + Refugee Camp, Uttar Pradesh, India, December of 2013

This morning she made her debut outside of her camp, during a practice run in front of the TEDx Talk committee at CSU. While my presentation needed to be polished and extended a bit, she was flawless and clearly moved the committee as shared with me after the talk.

This young girl presently lives in a refugee camp just inside Uttar Pradesh coming from Delhi. Her family escaped the violence in their village early last year, and have found some peace in this predominantly Muslim region. The local villagers have provided their land for the construction of humble structures, and some have permanently handed over the deeds to these spaces for more permanent structures.

Below is pictured the communal bathroom shared by perhaps six homes. We can just imagine how the girls and women of this most conservative society view this option, an option that is basically closed to them during daylight hours. 

Zakat Foundation of India is making progress in these camps, has constructed bathrooms in a few of them and wells for drinking water in almost all. While there is an unimaginable long way to go, steps are being made to correct the wrongs she has experienced in her young life. Her portrait is proof enough for me that she will endure, that she will rise above the foolishness and that she will flourish.

www.halimina.org

Note: These images were made with a Hasselblad analog system, onto Fuji Neopan Acros 100 ISO film.

Girl + Refugee, Muzaffarnagar Riots, Uttar Pradesh, India, December of 2013

Today is being spent scanning the images for the upcoming Tedx Talk next month, highlighting the schools for girls in India. Seeing the film images scanned takes me back to late last year, when these incredibly poignant spirits were less than two meters away from me.

On a cool morning we arrived at her camp. The very place was a result of the recent violence between Muslims and Hindus in Uttar Pradesh, all the families being refugees from such. It was quite cold actually, and the girls were shivering while they waited anxiously to be photographed. This young spirit's portrait was made toward the end of the photography. She impressed me deeply at that moment, and everyone around me knew it. Her head cover slipped a few times and I ran to her immediately.

I also remember her nose running, and we did our best to help. She allowed us to do so, but also was deeply shy and pulled away several times. The fine line between wanting to make a beautiful portrait for her and to also to document her as she presented was made quite clear to me during this portrait. In only a few minutes she taught me a lesson to last a lifetime.

www.halimina.org

Note: This image was made with a Hasselblad 555 ELD/180 mm combination, onto Fuji Neopan Acros 100 ISO film.

Refugee + Camp, Uttar Pradesh, India, November 23, 2013

On November 23 of last year her portrait was made in a small camp just inside Uttar Pradesh, India. She was then living within a collection of tents just outside of the village proper, driven out of her home months ago by unimaginable violence between two communities. The people of the neighboring village have been kind enough to provide temporary housing as well as the land for them to build more permanent structures. Our host family for the evening before was actually the driving force behind this generosity, and their home was a mere 100 meters or so from her humble tent. 

We arrived early in the morning thinking that the children would be sleeping, but were surprised when almost all of them quickly gathered when hearing of the photography. The presence of our host family enabled us to make portraits of the girls first, quite a feat in light of the fact that this was a most conservative Muslim community. A few men stepped forward to help with the work, and one was exceptionally talented at styling the girls prior to their appearance in front of the lens. 

This young woman's presence is made that much more exceptional in that she was only moment's before unaware of this event. She presents herself here for us to witness the power of her spirit, unfiltered and unadorned. My memory of her is as clear today as it was six or so months ago. By my reaction she was aware of her effect on me, and knew the immensity of her power… yet was sublime in her approach. Her features are of course without equal, few could match her physical beauty regardless of fame or money. In spite of what she has been forced to witness, or perhaps because of such, her expression is one of understanding and kindness. I will always remember this about her, and am grateful for having spent one minute in her presence.

www.halimina.org

Note: This portrait was made with a Sony RX100M2, edited for size and contrast only.

Hands + Kitchen, Refugee Camp, Uttar Pradesh, India, December of 2013

These are the hands that make such beautiful and purposeful structures; these are the hands responsible for feeding the children of these camps. We walked through this camp with the permission of the families, and were kindly allowed to make such images in order to help document their present state as a community. Late last year these people were driven from their villages through sectarian violence, with many seeing violence most of us would be unable to imagine. They have been given land by the surrounding villages and have started the construction of simple mud brick homes.

Witnessing such generosity makes it that much more difficult to conceive of the opposite responsible for its need. The children for the most part carried beautiful smiles, although it was also quite evident to see a deep sense of pain on just as many faces. I hope to return to these camps next year and to see fragile tents replaced by safer homes, worry with hope. 

www.halimina.org

Note: These images were made with a Sony RX100M2, edited for size and contrast only.

Refugee + Camp, Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India, December of 2013

One of the camps we visited at the end of last year, here shown from a distance. The boys were photographed in the back of the camp against the tall, natural background. The people living here were victims of the most recent sectarian violence in Uttar Pradesh, India. Over 100,000 people were living in these conditions, spread among 25 camps. They live without electricity, without lights and without a water supply. The camps are located in the middle of nowhere, without access to education, medicine nor governmental assistance. As a matter of face, we were the first to visit the camps with the aim to document visually the conditions at the time.

www.halimina.org

Refugee + Camp, Muzzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India, December 1, 2013

This young girl's portrait was made on December 1, 2013 in a refugee camp located just inside Uttar Pradesh, India. She and her family fled sectarian violence which to this day has yet to be fully understood. 

They live within a collection of tents, without education, medicine, electricity, water, permanent toilet, etc. A thin sheet of fabric is her only protection from the harsh environment, both natural and human. With this in mind she presents herself for us to witness, for us to absorb.

Can we imagine what she has seen, what she has heard in her young life? What images flow through her young mind while she tries to sleep? Does she see one meal per day? How does she deal with the trauma inflicted upon her just a few months before?

How was she able to walk up to a stranger with the camera and present herself with such vibrancy? She looks through the lens, through the photographer and to those perhaps willing to hear her story. I share her hope and wish one day that her life at least returns to 'normal' and much more. 

www.halimina.org

Refugee + Camp, Uttar Pradesh, India, November 24, 2013

This young girl greeted us every morning for the five or so days we stayed in this house. She and her other friend never spoke a word in our presence, always picked up the cups of tea once finished and were relentlessly sweeping the floor especially in the morning. 

Asking to make her portrait was natural for me, but was out of the ordinary for her. She nonetheless sat for her picture while the adults looked on. Every second or so she'd look in their direction but still managed to be herself under the circumstances. 

Our hosts were magnificent, the meals that they provided were fit for kings. The room that they had given me was their own bedroom, and they sacrificed their nights for the sake of my presence. It is these experiences, her expression being one, that tell me this is the path for me.

www.halimina.org

Note: This image was made with a hand-held Sony RX100M2 with available light only, as the morning began.

Girl + Refugee, Camp, Muzaffarnagar Violence, Uttar Pradesh, India, November 30, 2013

On November 30 of last year her portrait was made one early morning. She was living in a camp constructed for the refugees of the recent violence in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Her family had been uprooted from its home and forced to travel to a safer region where they have been given a plot of land to rebuild their lives.

The people in the camps reside in a various assortment of homes, from simple fabric tents to humble one-room homes made from mud and bricks. Anything more than this is truly a luxury. Some of the camps have a public bathroom and a water well, but many lack one or perhaps even both. The girls and women are forced to wait for the cover of darkness in order to relieve themselves, rather than risk the discomfort of doing so in public view.

When we arrived my eyes were overwhelmed by the number of children; they were everywhere and all so vibrant. Each face was as beautiful as the next, and held a reservoir of emotions unfit for any population and much less so for the youth. This was our last day in the camps and this was our last community to photograph. More than fifty or so girls waited an hour or more for their chance to be photographed, and I did my best to provide them with the chance to express themselves on film.

Four good men from the camp helped me out immensely, and cleared the area of most men and boys after both groups had been photographed of course. They were so gentle with the young girls and I remember this making such an impression on me. Then this young girl stepped up and my guide noticed a reaction on my face. He responded this way: 'you really like this one.'

She was so small, had the clearest of eyes in the crowd and produced this incredibly powerful stare. The sunlight did nothing to diminish this, and it made her even more exceptional. Going through the negatives I will also admit that all of the girls from these camps produced a profound level of respect in me, both for their strength in the midst of their hardships and for their abilities to share this with me through the lens.

There was no favorite regardless of my reaction… she just caught me off guard.

Foundations and non-governmental groups are helping this population regain a footing in society, but the work is extremely difficult. Without the support of the formal structures, these families fear going back to their villages and must make do with an environment which is already extremely hard for those established within it. Jobs were almost non-existent before their arrival, and now are up for grabs between many more hands.

However certain families from the surrounding villages have permanently given their lands away to this population, have provided building material and security under which to support their families. I was just as moved by their actions and hope to revisit this area next spring.

www.halimina.org

Elder + Refugee, Camps, Uttar Pradesh, India, November 21, 2013

A quick scan of the film just processed is being shared here. This woman, and her community, have been uprooted from their homes in a most violent way, and now live in tents made of thin fabric and plastic sheets.

The sadness described above is occurring in Uttar Pradesh, India. Tens of thousands of people are living in over two dozen camps, with only the help of the local villagers being offered. The government is absent thus far, and into this void the local villagers have stepped. They have given their lands for the sake of this community, and have also provided the building materials for proper homes to be built.

www.halimina.org

Note: This image was made with available light, on a dirt path and with a Hasselblad 555ELD/180mm combination onto the film shown in the scan.

Refugee + Shawl, Camp, Uttar Pradesh, India, December 1, 2013

The faces were as endless as the stories in the refugee camps, this being just one example. This was my last day in Uttar Pradesh, and this was the last village visited as well. Like other portraits recently posted, she and her friends have lost their homes due to the most recent violence in this region of India, violence that has up to this point failed to cease.

Depending on whom you speak with, the story is different. What is painfully consistent is that the children always seem to bear the brunt of the consequences. They had nothing to do with the initiation of the fighting and have very little to do with the final outcome. 

Being a young person is one very difficult thing in this environment, being a young girl is yet another circumstance altogether. The violence perpetrated takes on another tone, and these incredible girls stand in front of the lens after experiencing something most of us will never feel. On so many levels I am unable to process their hardships, and hope that the portraits made will be of service to them and to their communities.

We photographed the girls at the end of the afternoon, when the light was just perfect. All of us gathered in a paved spot just next to the main road, in the middle of the camp. There was a field just behind them, and tents to the right and left of the path leading to it. The platform was above the main dirt paths, and the girls sat in a large group to my right and just behind me on the paved surface.

The desire to be photographed, to take part in the process, was unmistakable. How many times has someone visited their camp and made it a point to document their stories? When was the last time they were rightfully the center of attention?

If only they knew how much longer I wanted to stay, how many times I would have photographed each and every single one of them… like the young Cubans in my portfolio!

What makes them that much more incredible is that for all of their giving they receive a little less than five minutes in front of the lens. They sit for an hour or more just for this chance, and walk away without making me feel that more was needed. This never ceases to 'get me' and I am deeply humbled by each and every one of them.

www.halimina.org

Note: This portrait was made with a Sony RX100M2, hand-held and edited for size and contrast only.

Man + Refugee, Uttar Pradesh, India, November 30, 2013

When we finished the girls' portraits, we moved onto a different area to photograph the boys. The tall grass behind one tent seemed to be the spot and so we started there. The boys came in groups and took positions behind various clumps of tall grass. We did this for maybe thirty minutes and then were asked to photograph some adults.

Some women stepped up for their pictures, then a few men wanted to do the same. Some were the husbands of the women just photographed, and some were just men on their own. One memorable exception was a young man carried in a most gentle manner by a friend from the camp. The moment touched me deeply and caught me off guard. It took me a minute to recompose myself before making their portrait, and they forgave me this lapse in composure.

The man being carried had the most peaceful expression, a gaze of understanding quite rare in my work. This was the look of love as normally seen from the girls, but displayed very effectively in this beautiful man. He thanked me for his portrait with a gesture, and the two men disappeared into the camp shortly after.

I expected to be moved deeply by the plight of the children, and this was of course the case when looking at each girl sitting there patiently waiting for her portrait. Here they were with next to nothing, yet willing to give of themselves completely. This was exactly the feeling I received from this man, and was totally thrown off guard because he was an adult.

Later on as we walked through the camp making more documentary images, I walked between two tents and spotted him sitting there smiling at me. This was the smile he presented with earlier, and I asked for his portrait once again. He of course obliged and this was the portrait made. This time I was ready for him, and he knew it. This is the look of love, this represents hope.

www.halimina.org

Note: Image made with a hand-held Sony RX100M2, edited for size and contrast only.

Refugee Family + Store, Uttar Pradesh, India, 2013

A refugee family standing in front of the only stand on the road alongside their camp. In the background and to the left are their tents, and the only light being supplied is the single bulb along with the various fires. Only with the guidance of Asrar and the good people of these villages could the images have been made.

My dear friend Asrar told me: 'Halim, you need to visit the camps during your time in India.'

He was more than spot on, and the images made displayed an incredible level of courage, dignity and bravery on behalf of the people photographed. Instead of pushing people away, they welcomed outsiders to listen to their stories, to share their experiences. I was humbled by this willingness, and hope that these images tell their stories effectively to those in positions to improve the lives of these communities.

www.halimina.org

Note: Image made with a hand-held Sony RX100M2, edited for size only.

Girl + Refugee, Camp, Uttar Pradesh, India, December 1, 2013

The intensity with which the girls expressed their thoughts to the lens was undeniable in these camps. Living great distances from their villages, driven away from their lands by the most recent bout of violence in Uttar Pradesh, they have survived.

One by one they took their turn in front of the camera, and almost 100 onlookers. To be provided a chance to tell their story through the photograph is almost unimaginable to them yet here they were doing so. In a most conservative community the men lent their support and made sure that the boys stepped to the side to allow the girls their chance. A half dozen men took on that responsibility with only a few minutes notice, and did so with smiles on their faces. Their gentle touch allowed the environment to be conducive for the task at hand.

What has she seen in her young life? Will those far from her understand her plight? What was going through her mind as she turned slightly to allow the light to strike her distant eye ever so gently? When she woke up this morning, did she ever think that a stranger was going to walk into her camp and wish very much to make her portrait?

I for one am in awe of her ability to express herself so and hope that my work has done justice to her eternal beauty.

www.halimina.org

Note: This portrait was made with a Sony RX100M2, edited for size and contrast only.

Refugee Camp + Bulb, Uttar Pradesh, India, November, 2013

Life is unimaginably hard in these camps, protected from the cold outside only by a thin plastic sheet at times. When the sun disappears in the late afternoon, the only source of light is this single bulb. I imagine being five years old and looking around me in this land, haunted by the violence thrown upon me and my family just a few months earlier. The thought is almost impossible to possess for someone living in my shoes. Nonetheless I owe it to the people in my images to attempt to imagine their plight, and to share it with those outside of this region.

The refugees in this camp are refugees from the recent violence in Uttar Pradesh. They have fled their villages in search of calmer environments, and have been provided land by these villages in order to put the broken pieces of their lives back together again as well as can be done.

Through these images I hope the message is communicated to the outside world.

www.halimina.org

Note: Image was made with a hand-held Sony RX100M2, edited for size only here.