through the lens, dark

A scathing commentary on gender violence and women’s identities in India, the documentary photography of 27-year-old Spandita Malik deviates from the aesthetics of what she calls a “colonial lens”. Born in Chandigarh and based in Kansas City, United States, she is the only Indian woman among the 30 New and Emerging Photographers to See for 2022 list announced in January. Known as “the well-known outlet for finding up-and-coming photographers” by time (2015), The 30 Views invites nominations for budding photographers each year through journalists, curators, filmmakers and professional photographers. Spandita was named by Elizabeth Crist, who worked in National Geographic For 21 years.

“I met Elizabeth in a portfolio review the new York Times [NYT] On March 7, 2021. Applicants get a chance to choose their reviewers; I chose her,” says Spandita, visiting assistant professor (under an AICAD teaching fellowship) at the Kansas City Art Institute, over the phone. Of the portfolio, Elizabeth especially liked Spandita Woman Project. “She told me she was looking at different projects in documentary photography, but Woman Documentary photography comes under a new philosophy. She was excited about the social practice area and the new language.”

Spandita applied for 30 in June last year and sent 28 artworks from three series – Woman, Home obscure And bride, Whereas Home obscure And bride were built during the pandemic, Woman is an ongoing project. It documents Indian women who have survived gender-based abuse through photographs printed on clothes and accented with traditional embroidery.

“I have a problem with the documentary works done in India for the last few decades. It usually shows a Western outlook – high-profile photographers come and do grand projects with rich contrasts and beautiful images of poverty. And I grew up looking at such pictures, wondering what photography looks like,” she says. “When I got a chance to photograph women in India, I wanted to leave that colonial lens, that eye, that beauty. The only way I could see that work was to give up control. ,

Name: Fojia Series: Nadi (2019-Ongoing) Size: 23 x 19 Inch Medium: Khadi, Photographic Transfer Print on Embroidery Year: 2019

Travel Woman, her first project, began in March 2019, when Spandita received a travel grant for her thesis at Parsons School of Design, New York. He visited villages in Lucknow, Jaipur and Punjab, spending at least two-and-a-half weeks at each location, interviewing rape and domestic violence survivors. “The project is heavily influenced by the 2012 Delhi gang rape. I went to study in the capital soon after the incident and wanted to highlight the issue of rape in India,” says the photographer, who began researching the data. “When I was researching this project in 2018, the Kathua case happened. One of my professors suggested that I go back to India to work with women who had been abused.

Wherever Spandita went, she connected with women through NGOs. Most were training them in traditional embroidery to make them financially independent. So, in Lucknow it was embroideries; In Jaipur zardosi and beaded in applause; And phulkari in Punjab. “Though most women visited the centres, some worked from home as they were not comfortable going out or were not allowed to go. They were the women I wanted to photograph and interview. In their case, there was always a middleman who would take orders and materials from the center to them. I went to his house and clicked his pictures. I would print out the images on the cloth and ask the women to embroider their drawings. Each woman has her own image that gets transferred over the fabric of the field – Khadi In Jaipur, Khadi In Punjab, and voice in Lucknow. I did this because I wanted every woman to be in control of her identity, as seen through these photos.

Name: Sarfaraz Series: Nadi (2019-Ongoing) Size: 54.5 x 32.5 inches Medium: Photographic Transfer Print On Khadi, zardosi
Embroidery, Applause Year: 2020

In photographs, women hid their faces with embroidery, some turned their silver jewelery into gold, and others used needlework to decorate their backgrounds with colorful patterns to make it look like they were inside a palace. are sitting. “It’s not easy going and talking openly about abuse, even if you’re trying to do the same with a friend,” she says. “With these women, I had to build trust before jumping into uncomfortable conversations.”

To break the ice, Spandita began teaching her children photography on disposable cameras. She still remembers in Jaipur, “I got late while interviewing a woman. I had to take a cab back and walk through the village. The woman gave me a pocket knife to carry on the way. It is one of the most special memories of the project.”

For bride, Malik followed the same trajectory – this time to work on his archival photographs. Since she could not come to India during the pandemic, she asked her parents to post wedding pictures of the women she had been in contact with. Woman Project. She remained connected with him through a WhatsApp group. “They often joked that ‘the world is ending, so I can get married too’. This prompted me to ask for pictures of them, which I printed on the cloth and sent them back so that they could do the embroidery work. can,” she says.

Spandita will be in India next month. “I want to work in project mapping and one area of ​​my concern is security. I also want to travel to different states and expand Woman as well as teaching the children of women in these communities,” she concludes.