Like many sports, men have typically dominated the world of bodybuilding, but for a small group of women in India, lifting weights and chiseling their bodies subverts more than athletic competitions.
In an ongoing series of images titled Not What You Saw, photographer Keerthana Kunnath documents a burgeoning community of female bodybuilders in Kerala. Set against common backdrops like beaches, the outside of a traditional Indian home, and lush, green foliage, the collection highlights an alternative vision of beauty grounded in immense female power.
Since starting the series, Kunnath has met about a dozen women participating in the sport. Her first encounter, though, was with the popular athlete and trainer Arathy Krishna, who she came across while researching the Indian marital art known as Kalari. This led the photographer to a small group of women bodybuilders scattered throughout the country.
“My initial meeting was through social media and through some fitness coaches who train some of these girls,” Kunnath adds. “I later started going to the competitions to support (them) and also to meet more bodybuilders.”
In Not What You Saw, broad, athletic shoulders and thighs bulging with muscle are juxtaposed with more traditional garments and gauzy, feminine fabrics chosen in collaboration with stylist Elton John. Beauty ideals have often centered on slim bodies, light skin, and long hair in India, and as Kunnath explained to WePresent last year, challenging stereotypes and defying gendered expectations has wide-ranging implications for those pursuing the sport. She says:
Many of them come from families who cannot or do not support their interest in the sport due to societal constraints or financial worries. They have to regularly work around the complex physical and emotional aspect of building and maintaining their physique, while fighting the deeply ingrained expectations of how a ‘woman’ should look and what they can pursue as a ‘respectable career.’
Posed flexing their biceps and accentuating their impeccably sculpted forms, the women exude not only strength and pride but also joy. Shining light on a wider range of experiences is a key element of Kunnath’s practice, which often hones in on under-represented communities and those defying norms, particularly throughout southern Asia.
Currently working between London and India, Kunnath will show her work next month at Fuji’s House of Photography in London and the Royal Photographic Society in Bristol. Follow her latest projects, including additions to Not What You Saw and a new series devoted to her grandmother, on Instagram.
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