Fazal Sheikh: Ladli

by Fazal Sheikh (Photographer)

In India it costs a poor family 50 rupees to hire a midwife to oversee the birth of a child. For an additional 10 rupees, the parents are assured that the birth of a girl will be met with an act of infanticide by the midwife. The alternative for many is an institution like the Delhi orphanage, in which Fazal Sheikh's work on the predicament of the girl-child in India begins--and 99 percent of that orphanage's population are girls. Girl Child follows on the heels of Sheik's 2005 Moksha, which documented the plight of the Indian widow, and for which, in combination with this companion volume, the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson granted Sheikh its 2005 HCB Award. Sheikh's previous books include A Sense of Common Ground, The Victor Weeps, A Camel for the Son and Ramadan Moon . He was born in New York in 1965, and studied at Princeton University; he has received Fulbright and NEA fellowships, and presented his work at the Tate Modern, London, the International Center of Photography in New York and the United Nations. Sheikh is represented by Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York City.

180 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2007

Reviews

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable and eloquent portrait of the state of poor girls in some parts of India, who risk death before or after being born. Or, if they make it into this world, they might be dealt a future that denies them physical, economic, and education rights. Though India's legal system has responded to the complex and dangerous environment that exists in communities that prefer male children over female, deeply rooted social traditions ultimately define the arc of morality. Fazal Sheikh speaks to our collective sense of empathy with strikingly dignified portraits and stories of children and women who have endured more than most of us can imagine.