photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Canon DSLR Challenge | all galleries >> Canon SLR Challenges - FAQ >> CSLR - Best of... >> Best of 2007 > 4th Place
Lotus Feet (Zakia as Chinese girl with bound feet)
by Elena Kalis
previous | next
June 04,007 Elena Kalis

4th Place
Lotus Feet (Zakia as Chinese girl with bound feet)
by Elena Kalis

The Bahamas

Ocean of pain and suffering...
Not a free choice for the little girls..And mothers?????Were they insane?
Barbarians?History is full of examples.
But how insane we are today?(With needles and scalpels among other things...)Would we also be called barbarians in the future?...


other sizes: small medium large original auto
share
BosieJan10-Aug-2016 23:54
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/93/21/8c/93218cd73a710f09d1355e14498c2224.jpg

LARGER IMAGE.
BosieJan10-Aug-2016 23:52
I knew I'd seen this image before somewhere, and it showed up on the first page in a Google Images search. The above 'photograph' is indeed a piece of photoshop foolery:

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSydfzQH1MvAfjedSqYuPBAn5ZqmTSiCkgGB8EDXZ51sMDi9FFHUF3i1A
cindyd12-Jun-2007 16:36
all that I can say is wow. thank you for addressing something like this in your art - unfortunately there are enough examples of bizarre and cruel human practices done to those we love, throughout all the cultures and histories of the world, to fill a museum . . .

Cindy
Canon DSLR Challenge12-Jun-2007 12:13
Yes, she is a lovely little model and there is sadness and intensity about her...Old soul...
http://www.pbase.com/elena_kalis/image/80092795
jnconradie11-Jun-2007 17:42
Very impressive work, Elena. I cannot imagine that I have recently seen a "new" photograph made to look "old" more realistically. I really thought this was from Grandma's photo album. Very well done. Regards jnconradie
Canon DSLR Challenge10-Jun-2007 15:27
Ohh!!! What an enlightening and moving contribution you are making Elena!!! Keep up the good work.
Trav, Kudos to you too for capturing a view which I can't even imagine existing.
-Cat
Canon DSLR Challenge09-Jun-2007 20:46
What Those feet look like sixty years on....



Best Wishes, Traveller
Canon DSLR Challenge09-Jun-2007 04:51
The complexity of life and culture...you are right, Elena, these mothers loved their daughters...sigh.

Best Wishes, Traveller (ps this image is growing on me)
Canon DSLR Challenge08-Jun-2007 15:58
Grant, I agree with you completely and am very aware of the differences...
You can also argue that mothers did that out of LOVE (how they understand it).Girl would never get married or accepted in there society with "normal" feet.
So what is LOVE and how much do we have it for ourselves and others...
-Elena
Canon DSLR Challenge08-Jun-2007 01:23
As a Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon, I must say that you ALMOST had it. The difference between what I do and what is done to this girl is informed consent. If an adult wants to change the shape of their nose, it is nobody's business but theirs and mine. These girls are not consenting. A much more appropriate analogy would be male neonatal circumcision.

Now, about the photo. I like the documentary style and the formality of the pose. the face seems to have less noise/grain in it than the rest. Is it a composite?

Nice image though.

Grant
Canon DSLR Challenge07-Jun-2007 11:07
I have another image in my mind I was planning to make but I can't..It's makes me sick,sad,scary and angry at the same time.
Have to leave this for now...
Elena
Canon DSLR Challenge06-Jun-2007 04:01
Hard to understand that 'beliefs' can exceed a mother's love for her child. Very moving story Elena, graphically portrayed in this post. Thanks for sharing. ~ Regards Melbob
Guest 05-Jun-2007 23:33
Elena, I couldn't stop reading the stories until I'd read all of them. They are so deeply personal and intimate. Thank you for posting the link. Your image is gorgeous and Zakia's pose/expression honors these ladies' stories. Beautifully done. -Michael
Canon DSLR Challenge05-Jun-2007 21:33
Of course you are as complex and beautiful as your images. :) ~ Lonnit
Ann Chaikin05-Jun-2007 19:29
Wow! This is a moving image and a moving story. I knew about this but see it in a new and more real way thanks to the story and the photograph. Amazing! Ann
Canon DSLR Challenge05-Jun-2007 18:11
Amazing story;quite heart wrenching. Very moody/period photograph; love it.

Cheers, Vikas.
Canon DSLR Challenge05-Jun-2007 16:38
Very compelling imagery and narrative. Thanks Elena and best wishes. Sam Attal.
Canon DSLR Challenge05-Jun-2007 16:14
Elena, are you the one who provided the excerpt and link below? Thank you so much for sharing it. To me, it is quintessential photojournalism...presenting the stories of unknown people in a sensitive and beautiful manner through words and photos. So powerful! Thank you again.
--Mary Anne
Canon DSLR Challenge05-Jun-2007 13:05
Please, veiw ORIGINAL size.
-Elena
Canon DSLR Challenge05-Jun-2007 13:05
"When I was seven my mother….washed and placed alum on my feet and cut my toenails. She then bent my toes toward the plantar with a binding cloth ten feet long and two inches wide doing the right foot first and then the left. She...ordered me to walk but when I did the pain proved unbearable, that night...my feet felt on fire and I couldn't sleep;mother struck me for crying. On the following days I tried to hide but was forced to walk on my feet...after several months all toes but the big one were pressed against the inner surface..,mother would remove the bindings and wipe the blood and puss which dripped from my feet. She told me that only with removal of the flesh could my feet become slender...every two weeks I changed to new shoes. Each new pair was one to two tenths of an inch smaller than the previous one....In summer my feet smelled offensively because of puss and blood;in winter my feet felt cold because of lack of circulation...four of the toes were curled in like so many dead caterpillars...it took two years to achieve the three inch model..."
Stories on http://www.josephrupp.com/bfindex2.html