Unfair and Lovely

My name is Fariha and I was born in Bangladesh. At the age of 12, I moved to NYC with my parents, older brother and younger sister. I'm an English Major and a Media Minor. This is my final semester at Hunter and I am both excited and anxious; excited to finally graduate and anxious for what the future holds.

Bengali Girls in the Wild is a photo series by Farah Billah.
The rest of the images are available here. 

Much of my identity revolves around being a Muslim and South Asian female. I often write poems and proses about the firmly instilled sexist ideas along with issues of colorism that is rooted in the culture. As a child in my country, my time with dolls was a short one. Having an older brother obviously had a lot of influence over me. Instead of Barbies, I remember playing cricket with my brother and cousins, dedicatedly imitating the moves of the bowler that I'd seen on tv. No one laughed at me for playing an exclusively male sport with such enthusiasm. No one pointed out what an awful batsman I was when I couldn't swing the bat all the way for how heavy it was. The feminine insecurities, I think, began from watching all the Fair and Lovely commercials. I am considered to be dark-skinned back home. It didn't take for a singular, eventful moment for me to realize that. I discerned it through the perpetuating images of the light skin-toned women on Bollywood films and by seeing the contrast in pictures with friends and family.

Now, much of my life is influenced by what I view through not just tv, but also different means of social media. My news feed on Facebook is filled with memes, videos of adorable animals, make-up tutorials and the latest presidential election shenanigans. I tire very quickly of all these trends and news. Instead of doing school work, I often find myself scrolling endlessly on tumblr, consuming creative works in photography, paintings, drawings and etc. Sometimes, I contribute to this creative flow with my own poetry about issues and nuisance that come with being part of the female desi community. Now, don't get me wrong, there are just as many memes, trendy videos and nonsensical posts on tumblr as Facebook. However, in the former, I get to choose the content I wish to follow. And the information there is often fun and interesting.