Shahid Husain
Sunday, July 12, 2015
An impressive slide show titled “A photographic journey into the lives of Pakistani women” by Wendy Merijnessen” was shown at the PMA House on Saturday noon.
After a brief introduction by prominent gynecologist Dr Shershah Syed, the Belgian photojournalist presented her slide show on Pakistani women suffering from ill health, childbirth problems such as fistula and ill health, and left the select audience spellbound.
She covered the 2010 flooding in Sindh that displaced millions of people despite an early warning from international agencies.
“I feel pride and take the honour to home,” she said, addressing the audience. “My photographic journey started with theatre and music,” she said.
Wendy Marijnissen is a freelance documentary photographer from Belgium. Intuition and personal interests have always played a major role in her work and naturally guided her to her subjects.
In 2008 she completed a long-term reportage in Israel and Palestine, using music to show a different part of daily life in this stressful and violent region. In the summer of 2009 she covered the East Jerusalem evictions and later that year went to Pakistan for the first time.
For the following three years Wendy worked in Pakistan focusing mainly on photographing the hardships of pregnancy and childbirth there. From fistula, traditional midwifes to a camp pregnancy after the devastating floods displaced millions of people in the country. Part of this work in Pakistan was used for the ‘End Fistula campaign’ of the UNFPA.