Open Category Winner - Debsuddha 'Belonging'

The ongoing project ‘Belonging’ is about presenting the psychological struggle and sisterly companionship shared by my elderly, unmarried, aunts Swati Goswami and Gayatri Goswami.

Already facing social isolation due to the racial discrimination they have experienced being born albino in Kolkata, India where people are obsessed with white skin obliterating the natural, brown, complexion. They have been further isolated from their own surroundings by enforced government measures against the COVID-19 pandemic which took place in 2020 and 2021 too, due to the second wave of pandemic. The sisters know better what isolation actually means but the pandemic has exponentially affected them and made their world even smaller.

Since my childhood, I have been observing their life struggle. As a photographer and their nephew, whose childhood, the precious and most sensitive part of life, was surrounded and protected by them, I am collaborating with them in this project, to observe their mental health and how they sustain themselves through dreams, desire, and companionship, even at this elderly age, in their 163 year old residence in north Kolkata, India, the place where they born and brought up. The body of work intends to celebrate and commemorate their resilience through their sisterhood.

debsuddha.com

I am a documentary photographer from West Bengal. I was a freelancer for international news agencies from 2015 but from 2017, I have completely focused on my personal projects gaining a better understanding of the photographer as a collaborator. Apart from the project ‘Belonging’, I have, for the last four years been working on climate migration issues in India. I am also, with my mum, working on my own fear of losing my family and being lonely after my dad lost his battle with Covid in June 2021.

My motivation for this project stems from my aunts, Gayatri and Swati and our relationship, and it is an ongoing project. In my childhood, which I consider is the most crucial stage of life, as it shapes a child’s future, I noticed several things I was unable to understand and express at the time - my aunts’ expressions, outbursts, angst, and sadness. I noticed and asked questions from my elders but rarely got any answers. Now, at this stage of my life when I talk to my aunts freely and frankly, I understand the expressions of utter frustration. My aunts were born as albinos which is not seen as ‘normal’ in their surroundings. And this is in a society where people are obsessed about having fairer skin and skin cream companies earn huge profits by selling their fairness products. This has adversely affected my aunts’ entire lives and now I understand why they have become so shy, and psychologically caged in their own home.

They were bullied by society from a young age, and some family members kept a distance from them. I can remember one relative who invited my entire maternal family to a wedding ceremony but requested that my grandma did not bring my aunts as their presence could harm the family’s reputation. Once one relative chopped off my elder aunt Gayatri’s beautiful blonde hair because of jealousy. My younger aunt Swati has weak eyesight and her music teacher tried to use this weakness by physically abusing her. I only got to know these things years later.

Both of my aunts were afraid of getting married because of the fear of rejection, and because of this, after a time my grandpa didn’t try to force them. But despite these negative vibes in their lives, Gayatri successfully completed her degree in Sanskrit language, and Swati completed her degree in music. Their only safe place was their home, and their only way of expression was to perform dance, drama, plays, recitation and singing. That is why they established a music school in their own residence for several years with the support of their parents, working with many students. They performed onstage twice a year where Gayatri wrote the script and directed the dance drama and Swati composed and arranged the music. They used to live in a 163 years old two storey house in Kolkata where they were born and raised. Once filled with seven brothers and sisters along with parents, now, only Swati and Gayatri live there alone. But although their confidence was broken down by society, they never lost hope. Their lives, the racial discrimination, the frustration, but also the hope, and affection for life have pushed me to understand them, as a photographer, and I intend to showcase their psychological struggle, sisterhood bonding, and at this elderly age, a resilience I understand and admire.

The most challenging part of doing a personal project is knowing the reality and using it visually. The emotions sometimes act as a positive catalyst and sometimes act harshly. At times I had to stop when I listened to the stories told by my aunts. When working on projects, I find my own connection with the story idea, then comes the research. In the context of ‘Belonging’, my entire 32 years have been my research period because of my own connection to the story, both as a nephew and a photographer.

The project was undertaken in 2020 when the first wave of Corona Virus came in and affected the world. At that time I was undergoing a mentorship program with VII Academy under the guidance of Christopher Morris, and it was my final project assignment. I wish to acknowledge here the help given to me by Turjoy Chowdhury, Colin Pantall and Christopher Morris who have mentored and guided me not just as a photographer but also as a human being prepared to face challenges and channel emotions through my photography. Currently, I am represented by VII Photo Agency as a mentee of VII Mentor Program under the guidance of Ed Kashi.