/ 2017 / Portraiture / Culture

The Sacred Women of Myanmar

  • Photographer
    My name is Gatsby Moellhausen. I am 16 years old and photography is a passion of mine. I've always loved to observe it and practice it. Being so young, I am certainly a more novice photographer compared to others. Nonetheless, I have recently started to really dedicate my self to my photography. This February, I went to Burma with the mission to capture "the soul and spirit of Burma's ancestral land and culture". I particularly enjoy and like to practice a more artistic form of "humanitarian documentary photography". Furthermore, I believe in the concept of organic photography; all my pictures are organic in the sense that they have not been edited or retouched., Mexico

Burma is a sacred land filled with sacred people. Throughout my journey, I captured
photographs of some of the most sacred and wise women of Burma. I call them the guardians
of time. Each women had her own story and personality. For example, the woman in photo
number 3 was both deaf and blind. She lost her capability of hearing and seeing due to a
series of unfortunate events. She now lives her days in deep mediation. The woman in photo
number 1 is from the chin tribe. A tribe where the women have their faces tattooed at the
age of 14 because of an ancient Burmese myth. This tradition is close to extinction
because the only 9 women who can tattoo this unique design have recently all passed away.
Lastly, these photographs have all been taken with natural light in the women's homes/huts
in rural (absaloutely non touristic) villages.