Acid attack survivors model for a cause
Five Indian acid attack survivors boldly posed before the camera recently to shed light on their plight and to help fulfill their dreams, reports HuffPost.
They may not bear the features of typical models, but their beauty is undeniable. In a country where victims of such attacks do not dare to come out of hiding, or show their disfigured faces in public, this was a ‘ground breaking’ photo shoot, participants said. Rahul Saharan, 24, a photographer who has long been involved with Stop Acid Attacks, a group that gives medical and legal help to victims, decided to take on the project in order to give the women a powerful platform to tell their stories.
The photos were first published on Facebook page run by Stop Acid Attacks, an organisation raising awareness about the plight of acid attack victims but have since been featured extensively across the world.
Rupa, one of the models, was attacked when she was 15, while she was asleep in her village in Uttar Pradesh, according to a video on her fundraising page. Her stepmother brought four men into her room who threw acid on her face.
The teen was left severely disfigured, and it took six hours for her uncle to arrive and get medical attention for her. She’s had 11 surgeries and is due to have more. the acid attack I never took photos,’ said Rupa, ‘When the photos got circulated in the media, people started calling to inquire about me, I felt so good. After the photo shoot I want to go out meet more people.’
now 22-year-old campaigns for justice for acid attack survivors, but that’s not the only passion she’s pursuing. Rupa has always dreamed of becoming a designer. She learned to sew and now hopes to open up her own shop where she can sell her designs. To date, she’s raised more than $15,000. Rupa designed the beautiful outfits for all the models featured on the photo shoot including herself.
Rahul Saharan, the man behind the camera, wanted to showcase Rupa’s designs and help her motivate other fellow acid attack survivors across the world.
His second goal: make the victims feel beautiful and change the way people define ‘beauty’ in general.
‘In our society, there are lots of things said to the girls — you are not beautiful, you won’t get married because your skin is not white and fair. I want to change the perception of beauty,’ Rahul said. Laxmi, another survivor involved in the photo shoot, collected 27,000 signatures for a petition to reduce acid sales, an initiative that eventually made its way to the Indian Supreme Court, according to the State Department.
The court ordered the Indian central and state governments to better regulate the sale of acid, and the parliament to make prosecutions of acid attacks easier to pursue.
Laxmi, who was attacked when she was 16 by her brother’s friend because she had denied his advances, has already garnered a number of prestigious honors. Last March she was one of 10 women to receive the U.S. Department of State’s International Women of Courage Award.
From his experience with the photo shoot, Saharan shared that he learned from these five women about deep struggle, humanity and what ‘beautiful really means.’ – See more at: http://newagebd.net/42584/changing-perceptions/#sthash.YJIcJfGa.dpuf
-With New Age input
