Time to Lift the Veil

In rural India, most villages retain vibrancy through veiled women going about their daily chores, clad in bursts of colour.

That vibrancy of clothing, if and when coupled with the raw and rustic beauty of their visages, has the capacity to illuminate the darkest corners of the world.

Covered faces do not hide strength nor shine.

They uncover the urgency to uncover.

If and only if, the face wishes to reveal itself.

Priyanshi Thakkar captured HER – returning home from morning prayers at the temple, goddess incarnate, veil lifted, a rural, powerful, Indian woman.

“The Veil” is a complex phenomenon, perhaps the most divisive and provocative of our times. And yet, amid the humble submissiveness to it or the abject rejection of it, there emerges a wonderful and necessary understanding of what it means to be a woman in the world today.

To have the choice to wear the veil or shrug it off, at will.

Our goddess, perched at the temple gate, witnessed in all its colours, the hypocrisy of this society.
“They worship women in clay, adorning them with garlands…
The real women are adorned with thorns…
We shouldn’t need to be protected from lust, dust or a thrust…
If worship is determined by the triumph of good over evil,
The evils disappear when we decide to be the women we are…”, she thought.

The temple bell rang.
She knew it was time.
It was time to lift the veil.

(The text accompanying this photograph was widely influenced by content contributions from Priyanshi Thakkar, the photographer of this SURESHOT and Rahul Bhandare, our artist that created ‘The Eye’.)

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