Women confronting with fate

A photograph from the Women Care series

Krogvold has witnessed suffering and despair among women at various places, on various occasions. In Bosnia he found a stranded gypsy woman in a street with a 13-hour-old baby, who had been expelled from a delivery room after a Caesarean operation. In Srebrenica 9000 were executed within weeks after which only desolation remained. He photographed one of the women who appears to be still waiting among the ruins.

Women Care is a collection of fortunes of women who wait and suffer among desolation and ruins. In Nigeria, among lepers, he somehow found joy. In Peru he found a woman with fists like Mike Tyson's, and by the banks of the Amazon he found them delicate and sensual.

In Bangladesh, along the railway tracks in Dhaka, he found untold suffering. Here 5000 people eat, live and die as express trains pass by. They live without water or electricity, among their own waste, without work and hardly any food.

One of Krogvold's photos shows a Masai woman in coloured clothes and ornaments--a yellow top and a gold-and-red skirt, earrings and a bracelet. Her legs appear bitten by insects and the shoes without laces appear scruffy. She holds on close to her baby. In another depiction of Masai women we come across a gathering of women, in bright shawls and skirts with dots, stripes and floral motifs. The gathering highlights women's activities. From Niger is the profile of a dark attractive woman. The hair is tied up in a cloth and she herself is covered neck downward.

Widow from Bosnia brings the portrait of a woman who is shrouded and in mourning but is smiling bravely despite her situation. At her back are collections of gray stereotyped buildings. The surrounding trees and clouds are dull and black. Sisters from Eritria shows two veiled women, clinging to each other. Street scene from Niger brings in another veiled woman carrying a weight on her head. She is laughing and undaunted by the world. In a landmine victim scene from the Eritria is a child with fingers missing from her hand, clinging on to her mother's skirts. From Niger comes an image of a number of women gathered to collect water in metal basins on their heads. The wall at the back is scarred and has writings on it.

Kontiki Island brings two women in skirts, jackets and traditional bowler-shaped hats, sitting and rowing in weed boats. School children from Niger bring eyes of girls peeping through books with Arabic script written on them. With dark faces and shining eyes, their images are arresting indeed.

Morten Krogvold has done an amazing work of depicting neglected women. With a remarkable sense of form, he takes his photos mostly in black and white, bringing in drama in the minimalisation of colours.