Born Into Brothels by Zana Briski (Umbrage)
“The most stigmatized people in Calcutta’s red light district, are not the prostitutes, but their children. In the face of abject poverty, abuse, and despair, these kids have little possibility of escaping their mother’s fate or for creating another type of life.” ~Diane Weyerman
Zana Briski is a British photographer who went to India in 1995 and wasn’t sure what direction her life was going to take. She was taking pictures of the “harsh realities of women’s lives - female infanticide, child marriage, dowry deaths, and widowhood”. It wasn’t until a friend took her to the red light district in Calcutta where she finally found her reason for being.
It took months for Briski to penetrate the tight-knit community of prostitutes and even longer for the workers to open up to her. Her persistence and patience paid off, although it was the children of the prostitutes that took to her right away. They were fascinated by the foreign woman and her cameras. She showed them how to use the cameras and let the kids take the pictures. That gives her an idea for her next trip to India.
Briski spends the next few years fund-raising and generating support for her project. She asks for help from one of her colleagues who at first refuses but after she sends him video footage that she took and explained her idea, he was on the next plane to India.
Briski returns to India with ten easy-to-use cameras and begins teaching a photography class for the kids. This then gives her the idea of recording the kids progress. Together with Ross Kaufman, they make a documentary film titled Born Into Brothels which is also the title to this companion book. The book includes the subtitle Photographs by the Children of Calcutta. The film was shown at the annual Sundance Film Festival and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2005.
The pictures in this book “are taken by children of prostitutes, children who have grown up surrounded by violence and clouded by a social stigma that denies them a right to an education”. The cameras “become windows to a new world” and for some, “a door to a new life”.
We are introduced to eight of Briski’s brightest students - Avijit, Gour, Kochi, Manik, Puja, Shanti, Suchitra, and Tapasi. They range in age from ten to fourteen. Briski gives these children an opportunity to improve their lives through the use of photography and cameras. The vivid portraits compiled in this book are by these children and are the vision of India. It gives us a glimpse into the “real” India.
Some of the kids are afraid of leaving their homes so their pictures are limited to their family, friends, and living accommodations. Others are more adventurous as they go out into the city to take pictures of whatever interests them.
Thanks to the success of the film and support from people around the world, Briski sets up a non-profit organization named Kids with Cameras. The organization continues to teach impoverished and marginalized children the art of photography. It “builds platforms for the children to exhibit their work, telling us their stories and transforming the children and their audience through the processes of instruction, creation, and experience.”
The pictures you see may change any bias you may have had about India and its people. The young photographers and many of their subjects are seen smiling. These images provoke one of the strongest human emotions - hope! ~Ernie Hoyt