Fear and Gender

Fear and gender in a public space is quite a vast topic as people have different fears connected to personal experiences or sometimes without having experienced anything to that affect. I found this topic on the whole interesting as I thought I could relate to it on a more personal level.
I have had personal experiences in the past which have made me fear certain things, places or people. Many people would try to block out thoughts about these experiences in order to not deal with them. But the more I thought about it the easier it became for me to overcome that particular fear.
One of the projects that I would like to work on is Off-Limits which is conducted by Vinayak Das. He talks about how the public spaces in the city are meant for everyone but at the same time there are areas in our city which are off limits to women. Certain streets, bars, tea stalls are places where a woman would not be accepted without a man. As part of the Fear and Gender workshop, he wants to photograph such spaces in the city and try to bring out the essence of how fear and gender play an important role in the city’s spaces.
Along with being interested in photography, I also think there’s a lot that can be photographed with regard to this particular topic. After I saw some of Vinayak’s work, I got a sense of fear looking at a few certain spaces. I would like to explore some of these areas and see the different ways in which I could photograph them, and also know what kind of lighting I’d want for that kind of a space.
To conclude, I’d like to highlight the topic of Fear and Gender in public spaces and show it like a story through photographs. In a way, I want to link the two. I think I’d be clearer after I got to observe certain spaces more and see what the people are like. With that sort of information I’d find it easier to build a story around it and also decide the sort of frames I’d want to shoot.

Saema Husain