Transfixed: Anusha Yadav

Transfixed is collaborative portrait series that is an ode to uniqueness in ideas of beauty and feminine expression. Manifested with volunteering individuals, the theatre of beauty, whether light to lavish, or dainty to dramatic, is a choice they exercise often, even if their bodies may or may not match up to an ideal.

This celebratory series was completed right before Section 377 of the Indian Penal code was revoked and decriminalised in 2019. I a cis-woman, an ally and a portraiturist, play witness and confirmer of the visibly shared concepts of femininity and vanity, with a born-male sub-culture who celebrate themselves via cosmetic embellishments. With courage-in-splendour, some dress to explore an identity, some to share an identity, and the some to shed one off. They deconstruct a society’s belief systems visually, to build another for themselves that is appreciative, and welcoming.

While I determined the silhouette and the backgrounds in post, my sitters chose how they wished to dress and be represented. Framing the face only, their dignified meeting eyes keep us transfixed - inviting us to participate in the magnificence of gender fluidity, and are testimonials of shared delight in expression. I am deeply indebted to each person in these photographs, and my advisors - for their time, their stories and experiences and most importantly, their trust. That is how I am reminded that the world can indeed be quite magnanimous.

-Anusha Yadav, November 2020

Anusha Yadav is a photographer, art books, and legacy designer, as well as the founder of Indian Memory Project – The world’s first, and a most admired online visual & narrative archives. She was born in London, and brought up between UK, USA and India in a family that celebrated creative and cultural curiosity. After graduating from NID, Ahmedabad in Communication Design, she began working with leading advertising and design houses. A few years later, photography and a photo archival discourse became part of her ongoing independent artistic and commercial practice. Anusha has received several national and international invitations to showcase her photography, and archival works. Among them was Chemould Prescott Road’s 2017 three part exhibition, ‘Access Time’. Titled  ’The Photograph is Proof,  the show presented an archival-detective project based on historical forensic photography from the subcontinent. Anusha has also received accolades for excellence and innovation in cultural design, and digital Arts. Anusha lives and works in Mumbai, India.