Rite of Passage

PHOTOGRAPHY

Oct 13

New Delhi-based visual artist Noor Kaur Randhawa explores the experience of growing up as a young woman in a world shaped by the threat of male violence and control. Photographing herself and her friends, she captures the ways they navigate fear, resistance, intimacy and freedom — from learning to call out the men around them to reclaiming their bodies, clothes and spaces. A portrait of coming of age, on their own terms.

Photography Noor Kaur Randhawa

Growing up as a girl in New Delhi is daunting. From the moment we are old enough to understand, we begin to notice stories of violence and servitude. We see it in movies, we see it at home, we see it in school, we see it on the news. Everywhere we go, there’s a man leering at us, unashamed.

As we grow, we find ways to resist. We travel in packs, we stand up to our teachers, we call out our uncles, we go out dancing, we wear the clothes we want to wear. We learn to unlearn, till we have some semblance of an identity. For this project, I wanted to photograph my life and the lives of my friends as we grow out of our childhood. This is our becoming.

“Growing up as a girl in New Delhi is daunting. From the moment we are old enough to understand, we begin to notice stories of violence and servitude.”

“For this project, I wanted to photograph my life and the lives of my friends as we grow out of our childhood. This is our becoming.”

About Noor

Noor Kaur Randhawa (b. 2000) is a visual artist from New Delhi. Her work focuses on her own personal experience of coming of age. Through the camera, and within her own environment, she examines her world as it is and as it feels.

To see more of her work, visit her website or follow her on Instagram

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New Delhi-based visual artist Noor Kaur Randhawa explores the experience of growing up as a young woman in a world shaped by the threat of male violence and control. Photographing herself and her friends, she captures the ways they navigate fear, resistance, intimacy and freedom — from learning to call out the men around them to reclaiming their bodies, clothes and spaces. A portrait of coming of age, on their own terms.

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Christian Trippe

Rite of Passage

“Growing up as a girl in New Delhi is daunting. From the moment we are old enough to understand, we begin to notice stories of violence and servitude.”

“For this project, I wanted to photograph my life and the lives of my friends as we grow out of our childhood. This is our becoming.”

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