A Diminishing Line: Paromita Chatterjee
© Paromita Chatterjee
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Artist statement: Dribbling Past Patriarchy
These pictures are a part of my ongoing project on women playing football.
Football is very popular game in the Bengal. However, it is perceived as a very masculine game. I started working with an NGO a year ago who were opening football camps across Bengal to empower the girl child from marginalized sections of the society. School dropouts, child marriage, domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking are a few in a long list of issues a girl faces in an underprivileged environment. These football camps intends to break that image.
Women in sports even today face various physiological, psychological, social, cultural, religious, family constraints. Such constraints prevent them either from staying involved in sports or from regular training. Patriarchy has implications in both men’s and women’s own experiences as well. It is a system that insists that males are inherently superior and have the right to dominate everyone deemed weak, especially females. Some girls often stop coming to football practice. Making girls strong and united is against social norms. As girls they are not supposed to play the boys’ game. This message is often silent but clear. The psychological threat is powerful enough to dissuade the girls from what had been their favorite activity .
The girls of the tribal village of Rajnagar in Birbhum district or the tribal girls (Santhal Indigenous community) from Burdwan district are the first generation learners. If sports is considered as a professional goal in a girl’s career, then these first generation learners stand equal chance in establishing themselves in life. If their sports talents are nurtured professionally, then these girls can climb up the socio-economic pyramid quite efficiently. These camps helping the girls enhance their quality of lives and also improve academically. Encouraging girls into sports at a young age, and giving them a healthy foundation and infrastructure is the only way for them to fight all odds of the society and shine. (above image: © Paromita Chatterjee)
Biography
My name is Paromita Chatterjee.I am a documentary photographer based out of Kolkata. My work has been published in various national and international magazines and newspapers like Tehelka magazine, The Wire, The Hindu, BBC, Aljazeera and more. I have a natural affinity towards women's issues, gender identity, environmental concerns, and anything under the sociopolitical spectrum.
>> Link to Exhibition - Paromita Chatterjee