This week for my
senior project I researched online and found a website with video interviews of
women from across the world. I was extremely moved by the women of Rwanda who
had children from rape during the Tutsi Hutu conflict. One of the women who
stood out the most for me was one who had a rape child, took over her killed
brother’s and sister’s seven children, and is dying of HIV at the same time.
The other was of a young girl who had a child at the age of 15 from rape and
was left alone to raise her son by herself. The next video I watched told the story
of women dying of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. The woman
that I chose to represent in my photos was a woman mid twenties with a
three-month child who was soon to die from AIDS. Once she passed, what would
her daughter do? She has no family and no friends to look after her child, so
there will be no way for it to survive. I also found many photos that I want to
either fully emulate or borrow ideas from.
My first shoot is scheduled for next Wednesday. I will take one roll of film and the rest digitally. I have almost finished organizing my second shoot, but I need to figure out the other woman I am going to represent. I also have to print the pictures I found online and add then to my process folio along with my brainstorms.
