My Sister and I
In a country where people are driven by misinterpretation of religious beliefs, any disease related to a woman's body; especially sexual organs, are prone to dwell in ignorance or loathing.
As a result, even a life threatening disease like breast cancer is considered taboo in Bangladesh.
Despite early detection being a key to surviving this deadly disease, patients are reluctant to seek medical attention and choose to suffer in silence simply because of the uncomfortable atmosphere that society would create if they came to know.
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Unfortunately, in the end, the silence is inevitably broken at the terminal stage of the disease.
In Bangladesh, breast cancer has the highest prevalence rate (19.3 per 1,00,000) compared to any other type of cancer, occurring among Bangladeshi women between 15 and 44 years of age.
On top of the misguided viewpoint of society, most of the rural areas in Bangladesh do not have appropriate facilities to diagnose, or in most parts, offer treatment for breast cancer.
The final words of my sister, who lost her life to breast cancer, were to share her story with our community in order to raise awareness of this lethal disease.
She requested me to capture every step of her struggle owing to late detection and portray her regret for not seeking help earlier, so the derailed perspective of people regarding this matter changes and lives are saved.
This project has been undertaken with this idea - Dipali may have lost her life to cancer, but she will live on through our work and emerge victorious against a point of view adopted by society which is the fundamental reason behind the losses of life due to this disease.
Farida Alam is a documentary photographer. Her inspiration for photography comes from the people and her surroundings. She believes in immersion photography and spends months listening, observing and talking with her subjects over the course of a project. Photography has brought her various international awards and recognitions. She won Sony World Photography Award 2019 where she got 2nd prize.
