third floor

“Call Me Hina” is a photo story by 42-year-old Shahria Sharmin about the untouchable Hijra caste in Bangladesh. Hijras are a community of third-gender people in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. These are transgenders and transsexuals: they dress and behave like women, introduce themselves by female names, but do not identify themselves as either male or female.

In the Western world, transgender people are fairly tolerant, and in South Asia, men who choose to live as women face many challenges.

Sharmeen, a mother of two and a Bangladeshi citizen herself, says: “I, like everyone around me, was brought up to see them as less than human. Habits, lifestyle, appearance have always alienated such people from the rest, made hijras different, abnormal. In Bangladesh, third genders rarely have a normal life. They cannot study, they have nowhere to pray, and neither public nor private organizations want to hire them. They don't even have health care rights. I treated them badly - before I met Hina. She showed me how wrong I was. She talked about her life, about her world. I was able to understand her and other representatives of this community. I want people to see through my photos how much hijras strive for femininity. They try to stick together because outside the community they are discriminated against almost everywhere.”

Shahria explains that traditionally the "third sex" made a living from the fact that, within the Hindu faith, they were considered to bring wealth and happiness. “However, times have changed, and the hijras have lost their special, sacred place in the structure of society. Now they are engaged in begging or prostitution. I hope that my work will help Hijras feel a little better in our claustrophobic society, find new friends in this indifferent world.”

Shahria Sharmin was awarded the LGBTE International Art Photo Award for her Call Me Hina series.

Photos Shahria Sharmin / Rex Features / FOTODOM.RU

(Total 19 photos)

Dilruba, 41, is waiting for a handsome prince - or at least a man who would want to marry her.

Tiptap is dancing.

Nian, 24, starts work at the plant at dawn and returns home at dusk.

Hina, 51: “I feel like a mermaid. My body tells me that I am a man, but my soul tells me that I am a woman.

On a winter evening, Panna, 52, waits for clients.

Pinky Guru, 56, (right), leader of the Hijri community, dances during the Hindu puja ceremony.

Expelled from her native village, Sonya, 33, lives under a canopy in the park.

23-year-old Priyanka fulfills a long-standing dream of love with her new lover.

Sonali, 31: "Why doesn't society want to accept us for who we are?"

Tina, 21 years old: "I'm taking exams, the results are unknown."

29-year-old Riyya's daily conversation with death. The cancer has already taken away one of her legs.

Leili, 33 years old: “I set up a temporary kindergarten for myself. But what to do with the emptiness inside?

Jasmine, 24: "I love it when guys are drawn to me the way they would be drawn to any other woman."

Salma, 27 years old: “I always wanted to be a mother, I adopted Boishaki. I worry if she will call me daddy one day!”

Shojib, 24: “We had a pen but no ink.”

21-year-old Nishi is waiting for the man of her dreams.

The doors of their homes are closed to them forever.

Zorina, 25 years old: “I dream of waking up one day and discovering that I have become a woman. I am very soft and gentle.”

Chaiti, 23: "I prefer to classify myself as a third gender."