KOCHI: Techie and photographer Arun Raj’s new photo story on motherhood doesn’t just highlight its divinity. It is also an ode to invisible mothers, those that experience parenthood under the weight of stereotypes. The pangs of a woman who couldn’t get pregnant as she finds her way through grief and ostracisation are depicted in depth by the artist through his frames.
“I like to focus my lens on socially relevant subjects. For this series that released on Mother’s Day, I portrayed the emotion of a woman who was denied motherhood. There may be several reasons for this, but the negativity she has to face from society, for her inability to conceive, is immense. Transwomen go through this stigma too. Some of them are abused for touching or pampering someone else’s child, solely because they have a different gender identity. The series is a tribute to mothers like that and a lesson for society,” adds Arun.
The photoshoot featured transwoman, model and gender activist Nadira Mehrin, the first trans-post-graduate student at Kerala University. According to Nadira, who hails from Thiruvananthapuram, 90 per cent of transwomen face similar issues from society. “Though everyone declares that there is a change in attitude towards trans people, in reality, it is different,” she says.
The duo met each other during Arun’s photoshoot for Women’s Day. Later, while they talked about Mother’s Day concepts, Nadira shared an experience she had at a shopping mall in Thiruvananthapuram in 2019. “I came across a small family with an infant who smiled at me playfully. I smiled back. I did not even touch the baby, but the mother of that kid forcefully took her away scorning at me,” she says.
This treatment is quite common for them, she says. “Many even believe that we are contagious! But the photoshoot had a positive impact and many got back to me saying they could relate to my story and the theme of the shoot,” says Nadira.