Fashion shoot uses acid attack survivors as models

Acid attacks are committed the world over. These attacks are most often executed by misogynistic perpetrators who want to punish their victims for rejecting them in some way. They throw sulfuric or nitric acid at their victims, usually at their faces, burning them and permanently damaging skin tissue. It is a brutal and hateful act that leave victims badly scarred for life.

Photographer Rahul Saharan recently photographed acid attack survivors clad in a line called Rupa Designs – whose designer (also featured in the shoot) was a victim of such an attack herself. After years of hiding their deformed faces, scarred and damaged skin, these women are done hiding. They want to stand up and show their faces to the world - taking the power back from those in their society, who treated them with such disdain. 

The fashion spread show five young Indian women, Rupa, Rita, Sonam, Laxmi and Chanchal, who have been victims of these horrendous attacks that are, unfortunately, so very common in India. They are shown dressed in beautiful designs, posing and smiling for the camera.

After the attack, Rupa joined forces with charity Stop Acid Attacks who run Chhaon, a support centre for survivors in India. The charity aims to help Ruba open her own boutique where she will employ acid attack victims as staff.

The charity recently asked photographer, Rahul Saharan to produce a fashion shoot featuring Rupa’s designs and several acid attack survivors. He said that he felt blessed to be part of such a unique and uplifting project aimed at showing that beauty exists in all forms.  He urges every woman to think of herself as beautiful, no matter what anyone says.

After sharing the shoot on his Facebook page, it instantly went viral, being shared over 2,000 times already.

This shoot truly shows how much room there is for all kinds of beauty in the world. They just need to be shown on bigger platforms for the world to see.

Image courtesy of Rahul Saharan. For the entire gallery of the fashion shoot, go here.

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