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Jakob Berr
Member
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# Posted: 25 Oct 06 09:49 - Edited by: Jakob Berr
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Yesterday night I posted some pictures of hijras in Delhi and the feedback was avalanche like. When I woke up this morning, I had almost forty comments on them. Thank you all so much for that! I was asked to open a forum on the topic, so I just start quoting the introduction again. Aline told me that it was a bit tricky to find because it was written with the first picture uploaded, which is the last picture you see...
My pictures from Delhi are excerpts from a reportage I did on hijras, an ancient eunuch cult in India. They are said to have the gift of blessing and cursing and are thus met with a kind of fearful respect by Indians. At the same time however, due to their differentness, they pass a deprived existence at the bottom of social hierarchy. They live of public dance shows, performances of blessings at marriages and births, begging and - one of their most important sources of income - prostitution. HIV / AIDS is a huge problem among their community. Over thousands of years, they developed a strict hierarchic system, starting with the chelas (students) at the bottom, who live in the custody of a guru (teacher). The top of the pyramid are the nayaks. There are seven nayaks in India, each of them the head of a khandan (house - these are the different "families"). When they are begging, most of them are very persistent to the point that it becomes uncomfortable even unbearable. Thus they contribute their half to the circle of discrimination and retaliation that they are caught up in.For my partner Sabina Yasmin Saba and me it was a thrilling experience to work with them. We got a totally new idea of what gender means and does not mean. Who defines where female ends and male starts? And who cares, anyway?
I hope you like these pictures and I hope they make you think a little. They are not yet edited properly and this is just a rough selection, so you might get bored at times. I'd be happy about any criticism.
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giz
Member
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# Posted: 25 Oct 06 13:24
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I really enjoyed your pictures very much,and with your explanation I understand it even better.Very good. That is also something that I love about woophy; to show a side of the world totally unknown to me .that your pictures aren't edited properly doesn't make a difference to the great story you told!
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Max Besana
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# Posted: 25 Oct 06 16:42
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HI Jakob
It is a great series, I thin htey discribe very well your words, as part of what you emntion can bee seen in their eyes, their attitude.
Thanks for the stoy, I agree with giz, this is one of woophy's best features, we get to learn and see from everywhere and everyone.
Congratulations!
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de stilte
Member
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# Posted: 25 Oct 06 17:35
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As I said in one of the comments already, its a great series, and more important the explanation you give here is clarifying. . And I fully agree with giz....and if I had to make the decision I would leave them unedited............
great and thnx for this Jakob
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Jakob Berr
Member
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# Posted: 26 Oct 06 23:46
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thank you all for your positive feedback. i'm really touched and happy that this work attracts so much good comments. it was something very important for me. i will continue uploading pictures (there are a lot more), also in this forum in the right sequence. however it may take some time since i'm busy with another project these days. i hope you won't mind this. greetings to all the woophy members out there, keep this wonderful thing going!!!
jakob
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Jakob Berr
Member
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# Posted: 30 Oct 06 23:38
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i tried to do a selection of all the images i have of the hijras. so far i ended up with 138. i would need more time to select a proper number, but i'll not manage before december. since the whole work is going to be my diploma, my partner sabina and me did several interviews with the eunuchs. i'll be in england for the next four weeks to translate these interviews into english. afterwards, i hope to manage the time to post a proper story with a proper selection of properly edited photographs... ;-) i hope that you all will still be interested in the story by then. it's been a great motivation to hear your comments and they made me really really happy. best wishes to all of you, keep going!
jakob
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scarlet
Member
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# Posted: 31 Oct 06 02:34
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Good luck, Jakob, with your project. We'll look forward to seeing you back on Woophy.
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