When I walked into the room, I did not see a room. It was a cage and in that cage was a human being that had been stripped of her wings, her voice, her humanity. The first feelings that came to me as I entered this room, this cage, this holding pen, was that in the corner was another human—but one who was caged in many ways, mentally and physically.

I knew I had to capture this story because for me, my freedom is something I take for granted and I wanted to tell the story of how freedom for some of our fellow human beings is nothing but a dream. Perhaps by talking about it and showing it, we can move towards helping these prisoners. I hope that by bringing the human suffering of these victims of Pasung to the world, we can collectively do something to help.

—Ingetje Tadros

Don’t miss the work of all the other winners and finalists from the LensCulture Visual Storytelling Awards 2014. In total, you’ll find 25 powerfully told stories from across the world.

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