I found this image very surrealistic
because he had these flowers bracing him with affection,
and he told me that he was preparing after a soup with these leaves,
which is making me a little bit laughing
because I thought, “OK, poppy soups,” you know?
[DEVELOPING NEWS]
I’m Vincenzo Floramo.
I’m a professional photographer from Italy.
I get the opportunity to visit TNLA, Ta’ang Liberation Army,
which are based in the north of Shan State in Burma.
They are an army group fighting for
the recognition of federal state within Burma, where they live.
They are known to be fighting against
production and smuggling of opium in the area.
Burmese rebel groups see that the Burmese government
is using opium, the drugs, as a silent bullet
to kill their people.
They see the drug as a danger weapon that could destroy them from inside,
so they’re basically fighting for their freedom.
We drove into the forest and into the jungle,
and they hide me inside the four-wheel drive with a blanket
because if Burmese military patrolling the area were stopping us,
I could have gone to jail as a criminal
because I was collaborating with an illegal army group.
Ten to 15 soldiers went through this big field.
I just jumped with them in the middle of the field
and start shooting the picture
while they were destroying the poppies with--
You can see here, with a piece of stick,
they were just going around, and I’m shooting.
There is a big risk that while they are destroying the poppies,
the Burmese soldiers come and attack them
while they are destroying.
After they destroyed all the poppy fields,
I saw this guy just having these flowers on him,
his innocent young face.
Most of the soldiers of TNLA look very young.
A commander just invite me inside a hut
to take a picture of this guy smoking with a hand-made pipe.
You can see here perfectly that it’s a totally artisanal bamboo pipe.
They told me that people who are addicted to opium
are kept inside prison where they have to disintoxicate themselves.
And till they don’t control themselves,
they are not free to go out.
The most problem with drugs,
it comes for the women in their society
because mostly are men, the ones who are using drugs.
They start to become very violent.
So there is a lot of social issues and violence inside of the families
for the use of drugs.
That was the biggest problem they have with opium.
This project is about LGBT
and specifically about a transgender group in Pakistan.
Nowadays, it’s illegal to be gay in 69 countries around the world,
and the penalties go from two to 20 years.
And in the major Muslim countries,
it’s even more dangerous to be LGBT today
because they have the Sharia law in place,
and they have even more heavy punishment.
Transgender are part of the culture of Pakistan.
They’re accepted in society, but they are not respected.
This photo project, Sarah, she’s a beautiful transgender.
There was a party, and she was really dressed up.
After, when I ask her about dressing,
and she answer me that gender is something you have inside your heart
and is not to have nothing to do with showing off by clothes.
Transgender in Pakistan used to live in a community
where there are a guru who take care of them.
Normally, it’s the oldest transgender in the community.
Here in this picture, we have Zaini.
That was the first time he started to make up as a girl,
and for what I know, nowadays he’s a transgender.
So this picture is really the first time where his transition start.
This picture was shot in Mandalay,
and that was the first time I came in touch with Section 377.
This guy is called TJ.
He was shouting, “I love you,”
to his boyfriend that lives 1,000 kilometers away
in the capital, Yangon.
And for him was like feeling free
to tell everyone that he was loving his boyfriend.
So I found that very poetical,
the fact that he was shouting, “I love you,” from the hill.
There are a lot of refugees from Burma that came over the border
and live in refugee camp in Thailand.
All the tradition that exists in Burma,
there are still alive inside the camp.
Every year, the parents send their small children, normally,
to have an experience and live with the monks
for at least one week.
And it’s a kind of initiation to Buddhism,
so they become monks.
And there is a ceremony every year
during three days, which these kids go through,
and with the last day, their head gets shaved,
[and] they become Buddhist monk.
They shave them as a symbolic detachment from worldly pleasure.
This picture was shot the second day of the ceremony,
and this resume exactly what the ceremony is.
They symbolize when the Prince Siddhartha
leaves the rich royal palace
in the search of the fourth noble truth.
So they dress up,
and they have to show off all the richness as a prince.
But a few days later,
they will lose all that richness to become monks.
This photo is really powerful.
It’s when the monks are shaving the kids
before they are definitely ordered as a monk.
And they were shaved with one of those old blades.
It’s pretty rough shaving without cream.
But from the picture, looks like the guy didn’t mind much
and was not having any pain.
For a photographer, there is this utopic dream
that your work could have an effect on the subject you are showing,
so something will change for the person you’re showing
or the village you are showing what you’re denouncing there.
Unfortunately, most of the time is not happening.
But I think it’s very important to show to the Western world
the privilege they have
[by] showing them photos from unprivileged country.