Eco-conscious sari label Shanti Banaras has launched a new campaign to highlight the lives of eight transgender women.
Supported by an NGO, the Coimbatore-based group is seen wearing some of the label’s most exquisite weaves. The campaign is called Akhatya and is a photo essay with the aim to celebrate their “inner beauty and power to fight the odds of societal rejection, ridicule and violence.”
“It’s incredible how each of these feisty people has risen above rejection and disdain to find a life of dignity for themselves. Each texture of their life is as rich as a loom, hand-woven in our atelier and each shade of their life as bright. It was our privilege to capture them in our weaves,” shares Amrit Shah of Shanti Banaras. “This photo essay above all is an ode to the city of Varanasi that is a symbol of co-existence.”
The features transgender woman include Razia, a classical dancer, aspiring actor and student of history; Sara, a beautician; Shobhana, a dancer and chef; Vinita, a home-maker, mother and wife; Yamini, who works at a tech firm; Taslima, an activist; Sujithra, a radio jockey; and Anushya, an auto rickshaw driver.