Marry Me

2012

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

When I visited India between 2008 and 2012, my curiosity made me to inquire a tradition of arranged marriage and for that I met young educated women who told me their plans for their future including marriage. I found fascinating to discover it was customary for male photographers to take matrimonial portraits in India. One of the male studio photographers explained that the ‘chemistry’ between him and a female client during the photo shoot is important, and it would be missing if the photographer happened to be female! Unlike the male photographer, I gave the women freedom to choose what they wanted to wear and how to stand in front of the camera. Taking into consideration the social changes and the rise of education that were taking place in India at that time, I found in these women a generation who grown up with an awareness of the change to women’s social status. 

Marry Me is a series of hand-painted portraits of Indian young women that contrast the traditional qualities of the archaic processes with the contemporary conditions of the brides-to-be. Using Indian old traditional techniques for matrimonial photographs (such as a portraiture next to a mirror to prove that a girl has no defect, or hand-painting to enrich their appearance), I created single prints which symbolise the uniqueness each of these women. Photographs accompany with extracts from the interviews which open a personal perspective each of them on family subject and their future plans.