Nayan (24) a garment worker. In day time, she works in a factory, which is perceived as a legitimate earning to her family. But at night she goes back to her community.
Bangladeshi photographer Shahria Sharmin’s on-going series ‘Call Me Heena’ explores the lives of the Hijra community, or third gender people, in her country.
Hijras refer to people who were born with male anatomical parts but identify as female, and are a minority group in South Asian countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Unlike Western societies which label such people as transgender or hermaphrodites, Hijras exist outside of these gender definitions, and it is more appropriate to call them a third gender.
Hijras are treated with suspicion and disgust by society because of their habits and way of life. Growing up, Sharmin herself was taught to view them as sub-human, until she met and befriended a Hijra called Heena.
Heena confided in her about her dreams of being a wife and that she felt like a mermaid, caught between her male body and her female identity.
Through Heena, Sharmin shed her prejudices and grew to understand the individuals of this misunderstood community, who just want to live normal lives like any other person.
The Hijra women featured in her project range from garment workers to prostitutes. Some were disowned by their families while others have yet to tell their loved ones.
Shot in soft focus black-and-white, the images tell stories of their hopes and dreams. Through her photographs, Sharmin hopes to lift some of the social stigma surrounding Hijras.
Scroll down for more images and view the rest of her series here.
Nishi (21), waiting for the man of her dreams.
“I feel like a mermaid. My body tells me I am a man & my soul tells me I am a woman” Heena (51)
Knowing that Shumi (22) L & Priya (26) R have no chance to return to their family, they have adjusted themselves to live under a guru (the leader of Hijra community).
Pinky Guru (56) R, leader of a Hijra community, dancing with her follower in a Puja Party.
Aporupa (27) left, used to sell eggs. Now she sells her body dwelling under a Guru with ten others in a small room.
A happy mother bathing with her son Mamun (23) who does not know that he has changed his identity legally as a woman in the city.
“Always desiring to be a mother I have adopted Boishakhi. But what if she calls me father someday !” Salma (27)
[via Feature Shoot and Photographic Museum of Humanity, images via Shahria Sharmin]