Conversations Photo Series by Asiko

African photographer, Asiko, brought us some powerful art photo series between 2016 and 2018. One of these is Conversations. He was inspired by a first-hand recount of the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Somalia.

Needless to say, he was horrified by this and moved to show how culture, in all its beauty and unification strengths, could be oppressive to women. The images are simple but powerful, done in his unique style of ultra-dark skin contrasting with minimalist backgrounds. He conceptually uses flowers, creatures of beauty, to represent culture weighing down on women. The women are bowed but not broken.

As I discovered these aspects of my heritage I became aware of the lasting impact of a patriarchal system that uses culture as a tool to ensure its durability, by suppressing female expression and sexuality. In the images, I use plants and flowers as symbolic expressions of culture, representing beauty, fragility and destructive power, likened by the role of culture in male dominated societies ~ Asiko

See some images from the series below - some represent other violent cultural practices such as breast ironing while some are vividly about FGM (we challenge you to pick these out). As you look through, think about these practices, the psychological effects they have had on whole communities of women, and how we all need to rise above these.

Check out more of Asiko’s work here.