Acid attack survivor Laxmi Saa fronts fashion campaign
THERE are some people in this world who show courage beyond belief. Laxmi Saa, pictured, is one of them. Her story is both disturbing and inspiring.
THERE are some people in this world who show courage beyond belief.
Acid attack survivor Laxmi Saa is one of them.
Her disfigured face and body are a reminder of her torturous past.
But look beyond the scars and what you see is a young woman with the strength to take the punches life dishes.
Saa was only 15 when an older man and his friend threw acid on her face.
Her offence? She refused the man’s marriage proposal.
“It felt cold first. Then I felt an intense burning. Then the liquid melted my skin,” she told the BBC, recalling the experience.
The 26-year-old is one of India’s most outspoken activists against the unregulated sale of acid and harsher penalties for offenders.
And now she is fronting a campaign, Face of Courage, which challenges perceptions of beauty.
Saa said the campaign, for sari maker Viva N Diva, was a way that she could help empower other acid attack survivors.
“This opportunity to represent an apparel brand was a platform for me to set an example for women like me to be confident and have courage despite their physical appearances,” Saa told the BBC.
“This was also a platform for me to send a clear message to criminals that women will not lose courage even after they are attacked with acid to destroy their physical beauty.”
Viva N Diva co-founder, Rupesh Jhawar, said he knew he had to cast Saa in the campaign after seeing her in a calendar which featured acid attack survivors.
“To my eyes that are used to seeing fashion models with flawless skins dolled up in front of the cameras everyday, this view was both disturbing and inspiring,” he said in an interview with Dazed.
“For a moment I had seen beauty in a very different way and we wanted to capture it — remove any speck of being a victim from those eyes and give them a stage, an employment, a platform, a medium to flaunt it with style.”
Acid Survivors Trust International estimates there are as many as 1000 acid attacks every year in India, but many go unreported. Unfortunately, India does not have a specific law to prosecute against acid attackers.
But, thanks to a petition filed by Saa, the Supreme Court of India in 2013 ordered state governments to create a policy to regulate the over-the-counter sale of acid.