Beloved Daughters: Photographs by Fazal Sheikh

The exhibition, organized by Princeton University Art Museum and presented at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in a condensed version, unites two projects, Moksha and Ladli, which examine the lives of women in certain sectors of Indian society.

Moksha concerns dispossessed widows in the holy city of Vrindavan, who live out their lives in devotion to Krishna, while Ladli examines the perilous effects of enduring prejudices against girls and young women in a changing, modern India. Pairing portraits with personal testimonies, Sheikh brings each of his subjects within the viewer’s moral reach.

Sheikh uses photography to create sustained portraits of communities around the world, addressing their beliefs and traditions as well as their political and economic problems. His powerful, thought-provoking work suggests an empathetic engagement with his subjects, and puts the viewer eye-to-eye with people unlikely to appear on the news except as anonymous products of circumstance.

Fazal Sheikh was born in New York in 1965 and graduated from Princeton University in 1987. In 2005 he was awarded a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant and the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation International Award.

Beloved Daughters: Photographs by Fazal Sheikh and associated publications have been made possible by Jane P. Watkins. The exhibition was organized by the Princeton University Art Museum. In Kansas City, this exhibition is supported by the Hall Family Foundation. Midwest Airlines is the official airline sponsor.