Simon Fidelis Luyenga | Identity
East African Photography Award
Honorable Mention
“Woman is a ray of God. She is not that earthly beloved: she is creative, not created." - Rumi
Identity is an ongoing series of documentary portraits of marginalized women, addressing themes of exclusion, dominance and dependency. The project focuses on the different narratives that play out in these women’s lives, including dissatisfaction, denial and the inability of authority to recognize the common humanity of all people and include them in its moral scope. In Tanzania girls are not allowed to continue studying if they fall pregnant, and they can even be punished with six month in jail. Young girls are exploited by sex tourism and trafficking, and in rural Tanzania girls are forced into arranged marriages at early ages. Inequality in context of education is viewed as a moral issue, but this situation raises questions for me. How does gender influence people economically, segregating them in different circumstances, and even contaminating relations and affiliations? The imbalance in educational opportunities means that girls are still less likely to find formal employment and succeed in the workplace than their male peers. The extreme plight of girls around the world has been made very clear in numerous studies over the years, and most of the gender struggle and imbalance exists in plain sight. We must listen and take sustainable action.