I am convinced that we love ourselves through the Other. So can you see Me inside You? Can you Mirror Me?

The first time I entered her little shop, Ena was sitting behind a little table and shouting at a man who later I discovered was her client. She wanted her money: the man came many times to drink sodabi (palm wine spirit) and never paid his bill.

I work here from early morning till late night to serve everyone with kindness. If they don’t pay me I don’t know how on this earth I can manage to eat every day. Give me my money immediately! If not, you won’t go out from here today!

The portrait of Ena is part of the Mirror me series: each photo represents a story of women I met in Togo, depicted from an “outsider” eye. Extremely resilient, still strong despite huge hardships, they reflect their surroundings, like in a mirror. The latter is a window, an open eye on the inner world of each of us:

In this hall of mirrors, the reflections are multiple, some magnifying, some diminishing, some distorting the faces peering into them, but in such a way as to provoke not merely thought, but also powerful feelings and the will to modify everyday matters in the minds of the gazers, for no one likes to see himself as ugly, ungainly, or dwarfish. Mirror distortions of reflection provoke reflexivity (Turner 1982).

Reflexivity is what I wanted to elicit with Mirror me, drawing attention to the feminine situation, which doesn’t deal just with White feminism. Ultimately, the series is a tribute to the many brave Togolese women I met during 8 years: my deepest appreciation and admiration goes to them, as, most of the times, they bear their burden all alone.

References

Turner, V., 1982
From Ritual to Theatre. The Human Seriousness of Play. New York: PAJ Publications

A special Thank You for his precious help to Jacques Metonou DO KOKOU, photographer based in Lomé, and to those who preferred to stay anonymous