TITLE: Behind the Bars

Muslin woman in hijab taking her son for a walk. The picture illustrates the poor situation of women in the Middle East that is, although changing, rather slowly. Women are expected to take care of family, raise children, cook, and keep an eye on the household. The majority of their social life takes place in mosques and revolves around child- and community-care as they are not authorized to work. Socially, they are kept behind the bars by their “male guardian” - usually a husband, but under certain circumstances, the role of the “male guardian” may be taken over by the father, brother, or even uncle, who gains a legal power to decide whether a woman is allowed to leave a country, apply for a driving license or even - for more conservative Islamic states - leave her own house without an escort. With the presented picture I wanted to visually express intuitively the fundamental nature of limitations women are facing in everyday life.

AUTHOR: Patrycja Sorensen (Poland)

Initially, photography was a hobby that aligned with many of my international trips and developed through the interest of experiencing and understanding how and why the world works. However soon after the aim of providing the visual understanding of social scenes, with their significance and complexity became my pure goal. Since then, I travel the world seeking unique inspiration, exploring opportunities, and keeping my eyes wide open to gain and extend my understanding of its sole nature.

The main body of my photographic work is focused on illustrating the differences between people grown on the ground of cultural involvement. This concept includes showcasing a variety of religious and non-religious based customs, traditional elements of everyday life in rural societies, and a wide range of typical and non-typical social interactions. That translates into fields such as social photography, street photography, portraiture, and documentary shots (sometimes recognized generically as travel photography).

Although the main body of my work revolves around people and their engagement in culture, I’m also involved in wildlife and nature photography, as well as more abstract and artistic shots (contemporary photography).