Through Our Eyes
My final editorial shoot was of my beautiful mum and me. I thought it would be the perfect way to wrap up my graduate collection.
My inspiration for this collection stemmed from understanding the full capacity of my mums verbal and physical traumas since aged 5, being brown and growing up in Crystal Palace to being a strong woman in an Indian community. I don’t think I ever fully understood the extent of my mum’s experience and as I’ve grown into a woman her stories have become a part of my own. My mum is a pillar of strength and when I look at her resilience she continues to amaze me.
This project had allowed me to navigate how I feel being an ethnic minority in the UK. I used to feel embarrassed because of racially motivated remarks but hand on my heart I can say I am proud of my skin, I am proud to be Indian and I love my culture - no one can take that away from me.
The other important aspect of my project aims to empower South Asian women. Within my own community women are often perceived as second class citizens and growing up watching the viscous extent of how my mother suffered by my paternal’s familial side fuelled me to want to speak up on so many levels. I am old enough to finally understand my mother’s story is that of many South- Asian women. This project is for women like my mum who have experienced hell and back within the Indian community but are still standing, for South-Asian women and ethnic minorities who are fighting for equality because of the colour of their skin.
Advocating for mental health and speaking up against our oppressors is often seen within my community to be a step out of line. This editorial shoot with my Mum loudly and proudly says that I am celebrating strong women like her, women like me, for all of us women because ‘We Deserve A Seat At The Table’.
