December 22: Acid attack victims live on the fringe of Indian society. As a woman, I can imagine the amounts and the various forms of stigma that these women would have to fight. First, the stigma of being a woman and on top of that, a woman with defiled features! The distorted notions of beauty that are accepted in the society, would have made life of these women living hell, had not they had the courage of accepting themselves the way they are and start a new life.
They chose not to bow down to the tragedy that hit their lives and stood up tall, showing the world that beauty is in fact, not skin deep. This is something that captured photographer Will Noor. Noor created beautifully stunning portraits of some of these women in Agra. These women have become quite popular for not just showing exemplary courage in the face of tragedy, but also making a place for themselves in the society.
They run a cafe in Agra, called ‘Sheroes’ (Short for She Heroes), which is the first cafe run by acid attack survivors in India. Noor was captivated by these women’s stories and was moved by their courage. “Noor wrote in a post on the website Bored Panda. Explaining how he found out about the women and how he came to do the project, Noor wrote, “The story of these pictures is a personal journey. I went to India doing some research about grassroots charities (I’m a sociology student) and a friend of mine told me about Sheroes Hangout.”
“There is a natural process of the human mind: it gets puzzled when it cannot recognize a face but I wanted to challenge that. I learned Hindi four months before my travel and went specially to Agra for meeting them”, he said. He said that he had a real connection with some of these women. “At the first conversation I had with Ritu, I was struggling with my Hindi. She was finishing all my sentences as she knew what I was trying to say and immediately, there was just a heart to heart connection and I just felt I was talking to one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met.”
Noor said that the images took form because of the connection. “The images are the result of a relation of friendship I have cultivated during weeks with the girls. My aim was to express this connection in pictures for people to see beyond the scars.” Noor also requests people to go have a meal with these women, whenever anybody goes to see the Taj Mahal. These women, in all the glory of their glowing courage and perseverance, are wonders in themselves!
(All images are the property of Will Noor. Credits: Will Noor/ Bored Panda)
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