They've Got the Power

Incomprehensibly terrible things happen around the world (and in our own back yards) every day. Women are raped and sold into prostitution; children are abandoned and abused. Working with Sanlaap, an organization that helps and shelters these types of victims in West Bengal, documentary photographer Achinto Bhadra encouraged 126 East Indian girls and women, all victims of horrific acts, to create a character they would like to become, make a costume of that creature and pose for portraits as that new, powerful being, an exercise that helped these victims heal and imagine a better future. You can see these striking portraits in the traveling exhibition Another Me: Transformations from Pain to Power, which shows these victims' newfound inner strength, a strength that truly emanates from the images. Another Me opens at the Saint Louis University Museum of Art (3663 Lindell Boulevard; 314-977-2666 or sluma.slu.edu) with a reception beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, February 27. The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, and the exhibit remains up through Sunday, April 19. Before opening night you can attend Bhadra's lecture, held at the gallery at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 26. Photo Credit: ACHINTO BHADRA
Wednesdays-Sundays. Starts: Feb. 27. Continues through April 19, 2009