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CLIENT Personal Project
STATUS Completed
TIME FRAME Spring 2005
PRODUCTS Photo, Video, Limited Edition Prints
PROJECT
Selassie examines her reflection in broken mirror in her bedroom. She lives in a traditional Troxovi shrine of the Ewe people in Ghana. When she was a small girl, her family brought her to the shrine to make amends with a god who was angry because of a crime committed by her ancestors, years before Selassie was born. She is a fiashidi, defined in the Ewe language as a “queen fit for a king” and a “wife of the god.” There are thousands of women like Selassie, young and old, who serve in the shrines to atone for the past crimes of their family and society. This age-old practice has sparked controversy nationally and internationally. Those calling for abolition of the practice call Selassie a trokosi or “a slave of the shrine.” The women lack freedoms, they say, are forced into physical labor and sexual relations with the priests. And so they have made it their mission to eradicate this practice and to “liberate and rehabilitate” the women and girls through vocational training and Christian counsel.
APPROACH
I first came across this story in 1999 as an undergraduate anthropology student studying in Ghana. I traveled to the town of Klikor in southeast Ghana, home to Selassie and hundreds of other fiashidi seeking answers. What does it mean to be a wife of the god? Is Selassie a queen of the town or a slave of the shrine?
I went directly to the chief and the priests, bowed my head and presented myself as a student – interested in learning their culture and seeking the truth. I was accepted into their community. I lived with the families and in the shrines for two months doing anthropological research. They were pleased with the time I spent and that I reported the truth of what I saw. In 2005 I returned to the town to explore this story visually through a graduate student grant from Ohio University. I again lived with families and for four months photographed daily life and religious practices.
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CHALLENGES
Gaining acceptance into a culture to witness a cultural practice that has been misrepresented by the media. Other news channels and reporters had unsuccessfully tried to access the shrines. Few people spoke English, and my basic Ewe required that I use a translator.
RESULT
The result is a collection of photographs made with unprecedented access. The images along with a written article were published in Virginia Quarterly Review and I produced a 10min video documentary.
ACCOLADES
Atlanta Photojournalism Contest 1st Place Portrait
Ohio University Achievement Award & Graduate Student Grant
PUBLICATIONS
Virginia Quarterly Review
Women's Adventure
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