Are you in South Asia? Are you under twenty-five years old? Then you might just be eligible for the Marai Photo Grant, which would give you not only professional photo gear but also a substantial money amount for you to complete your submitted project on Climate Change. Previously known as the Marai Photo Award and now reincarnated as The Marai Photo Grant after a three-year hiatus, this grant is organized by Agence France-Presse in honor of Shah Marai, former photo chief at AFP in Kabul. An inspiration for Afghan photographers throughout his career, Shah Marai was killed in a suicide attack in Kabul in 2018.
What’s the Marai Photo Grant
The Marai Photo Grant is open to photographers from South Asia, aged 25 and younger above the age of maturity; the theme of the submitted projects should revolve around Climate Change and its impact on their lives and their community. The jury will be composed of five members; Mladen Antonov, Ami Vitale, Palani Mohan, Aparupa Dey and Emmanuel Pionnier, all of them known for their photography careers.
The prizes have the potential to be life-changing for any young person; according to their website, two winners —one from each gender category— will get USD $3000, a Nikon Z6 III with a NIKKOR Z 24-120mm f/4 S and AFP mentorship, and two runners-up will get a Nikon Z50 with a NIKKOR Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR.
Now, when I say life-changing, I do not exaggerate. Three thousand dollars may not look like much —especially for those of us living in big cities with inflated rents— but it translates to an immense amount of dough in some South Asian countries. Just look at this nifty table!
| Country | Prize in local currency | Minimum wage | Months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bangladesh | 358,498.90 | 12.500 | 28.6 |
| Pakistan | 832,788.60 | 37.000 | 22.5 |
| Nepal | 403,559.70 | 17.300 | 23.3 |
| India | 252,252.40 | 22.568 | 11.2 |
| Sri Lanka | 880,847.21 | 21.000 | 42 |
| Afghanistan | 199,661.88 | n/a | n/a |
| The Maldives | 46,078.04 | n/a | n/a |
| Bhutan | 252,224.55 | 3.750 | 67 |
If you’re under 25 and living in these countries, you might be eligible. Might. Why?
The Gender Spectrum
What isn’t clear about this whole thing is the in-between places. That’s to say that the contest isn’t acknowledging the existence of more than two genders. For some, they might believe that this is a Western thing made up for people who are in need of attention.
That is not correct.
While some places under Shariah Law, such as the Maldives or Pakistan*, do not allow for legal gender transition, the truth is that transgender people —women, men and enbies— exist all across South Asia.
- In Bangladesh, Hijras have gained official third gender recognition by the government.
- In Nepal, a third gender is enforced; gender markers aren’t allowed to change from M to F or viceversa, only to an O in both cases.
- In India, it’s easy and relatively cheap to transition —I can think of several American and European people who have gone there for their surgeries— and their laws allow for gender markers to be changed.
- In Sri Lanka, trans people can legally change their gender without medical intervention.
- Bhutanese people are still not allowed to change their gender markers even after a full transition, which can lead to problems and further discrimination.
I don’t think enforcing the gender binary makes too much sense when it comes to granting young people the chance to show how climate change is affecting them and their communities. After all, we know climate change affects poor people disproportionately and that, usually, people living outside the gender binary are even poorer than their peers. Instating these rules means a whole category of already silenced people is barred from participating when it could mean so much for them, their voices, and their communities.
In my humble opinion, eliminating these gender categories is not the right way to go around it either, taking in mind the history of misogyny all around the world, but I think it only fair to add another category outside of that binary composed by male and female.
If only to respect the lawful existence of a whole category of people with a lot to say and often, not enough means to say it.
Note: Pakistan used to recognize transgender people, with their their rights enshrined in the country constitution, up to the point of having a transgender woman,Aisha Mughal, as representant in the United Nations. This changed in May 2023, when the Federal Shariat Court struck those rights and protections citing Islamic law.