PATTABI RAMAN

Photojournalist

Transgender Brides

Portraits from the annual Transgender festivities of the non-descriptive small towns of North Tamilnadu, India. Probably home to the most important and sacred rite of passage for all transgenders residing in India, the ritual involves an offbeat beauty pageant, a virtual ceremonious wedding and the eventual observance of widowhood. These images shed light on this age-old custom of self-expression, gender empowerment, and identity politics that gives transwomen a platform to express their sexual identities publicly in an otherwise oppressive society.