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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.
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Note: Image made with a hand-held Sony RX100M2, edited for size and contrast only.
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.orgNote: Image was made with a hand-held Sony RX100M2, edited for size only here.
I returned to Alwar last November and worked with the wonderful Nirvanavan Foundation, under the leadership of my friend Nirvana. We visited four schools in total and talked about the existing hostel and the possibility of two more for the Kanjar Villages. Here my dear friend Hawa sits with the girls of one of these villages, and does what few in my experiences here have done… truly give himself to the photography… proud to have spent this time with all of these girls and the foundation.Nirvanavan Foundation works in 12 Kanjar and Nat Villages, communities engaged in traditional prostitution. The girls are either sent off to the bigger cities or work with the outlying villages, providing their services as managed by the men in their communities. It is a hard reality to witness and an infinitely more cruel reality for them.The young girls in this image face such a world on a daily basis, yet the foundation works with the premise that providing an education will someday soon produce the changes necessary to end such a practice for these girls. Perhaps that change will come for them, perhaps for their girls. Only time will tell.www.halimina.orgwww.nirvanavan.org.ukNote: This image was made with a hand-held Sony RX100M2, edited for size only.
Among the discarded buildings they have made their homes, the refugees doing their best to recover from the most recent violence in Uttar Pradesh. I was humbled by their collective strength and the smiles shared with my lens.
We visited eight or so camps and did our best to formally document these stories. Each and every person spoke a different, visual language with the camera, each had a story to tell. This young girl was incredibly gallant, ignoring the waves of men stopping every few minutes to check on our project. She smiled in defiance and brought chills to their opposition.
While we had the support of the elders and the leaders of these communities, there were those now and then whose voices were presented to me through their expressions. With her by my side we continued in spite of this and perhaps because of this, her story needed to be told she demanded.
www.halimina.org
Note: This image was made with a Sony RX100M2, hand-held and edited for size and contrast only.
As we finished our session these little ones arrived and a spontaneous session of photography began. In a village named Goneri we spent a few hours yesterday, and managed to find many of the faces from four years ago. As with the other villages every single girl remembered our past sessions and was driven to create more this time around. The expressions on their faces as we arrived cannot be described sufficiently with words, hopefully more fully with the images made.
We hope for a school in their village, so that they and their older sisters get a chance to attend school soon. The previous school was forced to close due to funding issues. Should the readers of this image feel compelled to offer their suggestions, I am open and willing to hear them.
Humana People to People India and I are ready to reopen the school, and have the technical knowhow to do so… all that is needed now is the funding. All suggestions are most welcome.
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halim.ina@gmail.com
Note: This image was made with a Sony RX100M2, hand-held and edited for size and contrast a bit.
While I waited for the sun to set a bit for the more formal session, I decided to walk around and photograph the surrounding homes. Within the same 100 meters or so was this older woman, accompanied by her grandson. He offered his portrait eagerly and coaxed his grandmother to do the same. The trick was to set up the tripod and make formal, architectural images while keeping an eye out for the faces… and on this day it worked.
One of three schools in this area reopened in this very village, less than twenty meters from this portrait. After walking around and make such images, we returned to the teacher's house and had a wonderful time photographing the past and future students. They were so attentive and beyond appreciative of the chance to attend classes once again. My ability to describe them stops at the images, for their reactions are beyond words.
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