HIDDEN LIVES – HOMOSEXUALITY IN BOMBAY.
Peter Caton and Cristiane Aoki (writer) worked documenting the MSM (Men who have Sex with Men) and TG (Transgender) community in Mumbai, India. The project took them into the lives and homes of a highly marginalised section of Mumbai society, one living at the very fringes of legality and convention, which is nevertheless intertwined in the cultural and historical fabric of this ancient and sprawling city.
Within Muslim and Hindu cultures, hijras were traditionally eunuchs. In earlier times, families would give up one of their sons to the hijra community as an offering to the gods. They would then be castrated and wear saris, becoming half-man, half-woman. When someone got married or had a new baby it was customary to offer some money to a hijra who in return would bless the new life. The darker side of this is that if the hijras are not placated, they are thought to have the power to throw down curses at those who displease them. Hijras are different from TGs as the tradition represents a way of living through begging and favours. In modern India, most so-called hijras are not in fact castrated and many MSM and TG – the individuals that are the subject of this photo project – take advantage of the hijra tradition to get some pocket money at traffic lights and trains, or to seek out potential clients for sex.
The photographs presented here offer a window on the subjects in both the private and public spheres. Posed portraits capture faces in stylised poses, revealing highly embellished and feminised appearances. The hijras delight in the process of transforming themselves into their female alter-egos, often getting together as ‘sisters’ to dress up, exchange make-up tips and find joy in the shared experience of image altering. Most of them live ordinarily as men; many have regular jobs; and their night-time activity is often kept secret from their family and friends. This lends an added element of ritual to the casting off of the male appearance. In the flip-flopping between double lives, the transition into what may be the truer self, the more natural identity, takes on a special significance. So the obvious portraits here are documentary as well as purely celebratory in that they record the garish truth of heavily made-up faces while at the same time capitulating in the fantasy of feminine beauty to which the subjects’ aspire – Caton’s camera brings out the model, the actress, the performer in each one.
Homosexuality is still a huge taboo in India and because of the strong conservative values of its culture, misconceptions about homosexuality, transgenderism and prostitution are widespread in Indian society. The MSM do not necessarily see themselves as homosexuals, though they divide themselves between coti (passives) and panti (active). They do not regard themselves as prostitutes either, although nearly all MSMs charge for sex. In keeping with the hijra tradition, they may also beg for money. Caton’s camera followed them to the places where this business is first solicited – in the midst of traffic, alongside other street peddlers and beggars; in local cafes, conspicuous among groups of heterosexual men; in the dead of night down by the railway tracks; or in abandoned buildings where forbidden acts can carry on unseen. (For reasons of consistency and economy of presentation many images have had to be excluded from the present set.)
Thanks to a large-scale programme aimed at controlling the spread of HIV and AIDS launched by the Indian government, as well as a number of effective media campaigns by government and NGOs, the majority of the MSM and TG community now knows about the transmission of HIV through unprotected sex and has access to free condoms. However, the use of condoms is still inconsistent and low. The MSM will usually have sex without a condom in exchange for more money, or they may make exceptions when they are attracted by a person’s physical appearance. According to a survey in 2004 by an MSM NGO in Mumbai, 20% of the gay community is HIV positive.
This menacing undercurrent is represented perhaps most poignantly in the image of Nandu, aged 32, who is HIV positive – he reclines on the bed tearfully as he reflects on his illness, his head framed against a neglected yellow wall. Meanwhile, the more graphic images – Nandu and a friend playing to the camera in a stylised embrace in the kitchen; the simulation of fellatio on condom-sheathed fingers; and the display of a surgically enhanced breast – remind us of the overtly sexual aspect of their identity, the importance of display and advertisement, and the fact that they put themselves in the firing line of HIV as promiscuous sex workers.
There is both beauty and sadness in this little-known sub-culture of Mumbai. Caton’s photography triumphs in its intimate portrayal and reveals a cross-section of society full of the transient joy, despair and hope that are the touchstones of the human condition.
- Michael Hall