Travel Photography Scholarship 2010 Application

Witches in India - Life of desperation

India | Monday, October 4, 2010 | flickr photos

My place is a small hill in Gujarat close to the Pakistan border.
In India and also in this region many women are denounced as witches.
The so-called witch Birki lives socially isolated on the top of this hill. Submontane there is the house of her brother. After Birki was expelled by her family and the village community, she and her son had to live in the woods for five years until her brother admitted her to stay next to his home again three years ago. She gets a small meal twice a day. However, she is not allowed to go down to the family or her son.

About me

I study photojournalism in Germany and sometimes I work for an environmental NGO and some German newspapers. When I was 14years old my father allowed me to use his camera; since that time I never leave home without a camera. Photography became a way to express what is important to my life.

When I finished school I moved to Berlin to study political science but one day I noticed that I spend most time taking pictures. After I accompanied a homeless Hungarian guy for a month who lives in the streets of Berlin I knew for sure that photojournalism should be more than a passion.

I am addicted to photography and I have the strong feeling to tell stories. Nowadays I prefer stories about different cultures, the people and their daily struggles. I have a close relation with the ones who are social isolated, domineered but finally I try to find the beauty of life.

Of course my photo abilities are not finished. I want to learn and I am thirsty for more knowledge especially for the know-how of an experienced photographer who works for the National-Geographic.