Joint First Prize - "Damsel in Distress" by Naser Imran Hossain, 21 - Bangladesh
"This here is "Amina", the 'pro-modern' Damsel in Distress. She was a little camera shy, must've been all those years of living in self denial, constantly being reminded that she was born a 'Girl', and in a patriarchal community she is no better than a 2nd class citizen. Amina earns 1.5 ~ 6 taka (0.085 USD) each day, working as a 'firewood bearer' who goes to and fro along the banks of the Kaptai Lake over a distance stretching one and a half mile, countless times, everyday. Both her father and mother are day labourers as well. With rising prices, the three of them can barely meet their ends meet. Their broken shed reeks of alien fumes, aboriginal organisms and bacteroides that are considered 'lethal' for the city people. Yet despite all these difficulties growing up, 'Amina' retains a strange, stark beauty. A farcical gaze that tears through your very soul."
