Photo © Schore Mehrdju
Documentary - NOMINEE: Schore Mehrdju
The Second
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'The Second' is a project about the increasing number of polygynous marriages in Tajikistan.
Polygyny is a patriarchal practice which refers to the marriage of one man to two or more wives at a time.
„A woman without a husband is nothing here.“
After years of Soviet domination and the terror of the civil war that followed the country’s independence in 1991 polygyny has become a widespread arrangement in Tajik society, even though it is punished by law. The islamic marriage contract, called the Nikah, makes polygynous marriages possible, leaves the wifes and their children without any rights though.
I worked collaboratively with the women I photographed to create these portraits. Because of the judgemental society, their identity stays unrevealed.
About author:
Schore Mehrdju is a German-Iranian documentary photographer who holds a law degree from the University in Hanover and later studied photography at the Ostkreuzschool in Berlin, Germany.
She was born in 1983 in Iran and grew up in Germany, since her parents had to flee the repressive country after the Islamic Revolution. That led her to create the very personal project 'You never told me about your time in prison'.
Currently she is working internationally on long term projects exploring the deeply personal.
Exhibitions
2019 Encontros da Imagem, Braga, Portugal
2019 Voies Off Award, Screenings, Les Rencontres d'Arles, France
2019 Jakarta International Photo Festival, Goethe Institute, Indonesia
2018 Book exhibition, Les Rencontres d'Arles, France
2018 Groupexhibition, The Family of No Men, Cosmos, Les Rencontres d'Arles, France
2018 Kolga Tbilisi Photo Festival, Georgia
2017 Book exhibition, Foto Colectania library space, Festival Fotografia Documental, Barcelona, Spain
2017 Graduating show, Kaufhaus Jandorf, Berlin, Germany
2017 Groupexhibition, Verein der berliner Kuenstlerinnen, Camaro Stiftung, Berlin, Germany
Nominations/Grants
2019 Dicovery Awards 2019, Encontros da Imagem, Finalist (Winner tba) with 'you never told me about your time in prison'
2019 Voies Off Award, Shortlist with „The Second“
2018 VG Bildkunst Grant for „The Second“
2018 nominated for gute Aussichten
2018 Kolga Tbilisi Photo Award, Shortlist Documentary Series with 'you never told me about your time in prison'
2018 Luma Rencontres dummy Book Award Arles, Shortlist with 'you never told me about your time in prison'
2017 DOCfield dummy award, finalist and special mention with 'you never told me about your time in prison'
Polygyny is a patriarchal practice which refers to the marriage of one man to two or more wives at a time.
„A woman without a husband is nothing here.“
After years of Soviet domination and the terror of the civil war that followed the country’s independence in 1991 polygyny has become a widespread arrangement in Tajik society, even though it is punished by law. The islamic marriage contract, called the Nikah, makes polygynous marriages possible, leaves the wifes and their children without any rights though.
I worked collaboratively with the women I photographed to create these portraits. Because of the judgemental society, their identity stays unrevealed.
About author:
Schore Mehrdju is a German-Iranian documentary photographer who holds a law degree from the University in Hanover and later studied photography at the Ostkreuzschool in Berlin, Germany.
She was born in 1983 in Iran and grew up in Germany, since her parents had to flee the repressive country after the Islamic Revolution. That led her to create the very personal project 'You never told me about your time in prison'.
Currently she is working internationally on long term projects exploring the deeply personal.
Exhibitions
2019 Encontros da Imagem, Braga, Portugal
2019 Voies Off Award, Screenings, Les Rencontres d'Arles, France
2019 Jakarta International Photo Festival, Goethe Institute, Indonesia
2018 Book exhibition, Les Rencontres d'Arles, France
2018 Groupexhibition, The Family of No Men, Cosmos, Les Rencontres d'Arles, France
2018 Kolga Tbilisi Photo Festival, Georgia
2017 Book exhibition, Foto Colectania library space, Festival Fotografia Documental, Barcelona, Spain
2017 Graduating show, Kaufhaus Jandorf, Berlin, Germany
2017 Groupexhibition, Verein der berliner Kuenstlerinnen, Camaro Stiftung, Berlin, Germany
Nominations/Grants
2019 Dicovery Awards 2019, Encontros da Imagem, Finalist (Winner tba) with 'you never told me about your time in prison'
2019 Voies Off Award, Shortlist with „The Second“
2018 VG Bildkunst Grant for „The Second“
2018 nominated for gute Aussichten
2018 Kolga Tbilisi Photo Award, Shortlist Documentary Series with 'you never told me about your time in prison'
2018 Luma Rencontres dummy Book Award Arles, Shortlist with 'you never told me about your time in prison'
2017 DOCfield dummy award, finalist and special mention with 'you never told me about your time in prison'