A blow to humanity
Although Chobi Mela VII is now formally over, the exhibitions will wrap up today. Spain-based Argentine photojournalist Walter Astrada's project, “49.65 %, Violence Against Womenâ€, sheds light on the barbaric facet of male domination, existing underneath the mask of civilisation. The collection of photos is on display at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy as part of the festival of photography.
The photographs which were shot in four countries across four continents -- Guatemala, Democratic Republic of Congo, India and Norway -- document women at their most vulnerable state. The photos unveil different kinds of violence that women face at some point in their lives, regardless of the society, economy and culture they belong to.
A set of photos featuring violence against women in Guatemala, mainly focuses on femicide, the killing of women, along with physical and mental tortures. Meanwhile, the shots taken in DR Congo tell horrific stories of sexual violence against the backdrop of conflict and post-conflict chaos in the war-torn country.
Apart from the two countries of South America and Central Africa, the photographer has chosen India, a rising South Asian country, to show another kind of violence: female infanticide. In addition to the lower social status, women from Nepal and Bangladesh are trafficked and sold in India to meet the growing sexual thirst of a male-dominated society.
Astrada then travels to Europe to depict the state of violence against women in a “civilised†country like Norway. However difficult it may be to imagine, women in Norway are also susceptible to sexual assaults and domestic violence. The blank gazes of the victims in the portraits make a jarring impact.
Walter Astrada, through his bold visual articulation has shown the world the harsh reality that keeps nearly fifty percent of world's population under constant threats.
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