Mädchenland

In the state of Meghalaya in India, the indigenous people of the Khasi form the majority of the population. The Khasi are a matrilineal society. Here, traditionally it is girls who are of particularly importance and who play an exposed role in the family. The line of succession passes through the youngest daughter. If she marries, her husband is taken into her family‘s house, and the children take their mother‘s name. A family with just sons is considered as miserable, because only daughters can assure the continuity of a clan. For “Mädchenland” I spent nine months in the village of Mawlynnong in north-east India. In this series I concentrate on the girls themselves in contextualizing them in their everyday physical environment through a sensitive balance between documentation and composition.