AUGUST 2019 COSMOPOLITAN 35GAZE
one...and the woman is usually an
happens when a couple of women
in new ways—uninhibited, raw,
By Humra Afroz KhanShatabdi Chakrabarti
“I think it’s important for female photographers to photograph
women as there is a definite shift in the ‘gaze’. I’m a heavily tattooed
woman myself, and have been researching the subject for years now.
I mainly document stories around this art form to understand the
dichotomy that exists in it for women: in traditional, tribal spaces,
tattoos on women are an integral part of the culture, where motifs
have deep-rooted connections with femininity and womanhood; but
in urban India, a tattooed woman can be labelled ‘too modern’.”