As part of the Kaur project, Ms. Sahota photographs each woman, like Gurmit Kaur-Baarwaali, at her home in Surrey; then, Ms. Lehail interviews the woman and crafts first-person narratives that are posted alongside the photos.Saji Kaur Sahota
Two women from the Vancouver region have created an online photography project to create a space for Sikh women to tell their stories while prompting a conversation on diversity, identity and representation.
Jessie Kaur Lehail and Saji Kaur Sahota created the Kaur Project two years ago, profiling dozens of Sikh women from British Columbia's Lower Mainland. They named the project after Kaur, which is the traditional name for Sikh women. Like the name Singh for Sikh men, women use it instead of, or in addition to, a surname.
"It's an equalizer that liberates them from oppression of class, caste and from a patriarchal system where women have to take their husband or father's names," Ms. Lehail says.
"That gives them this independence, this feminist thought that they can live their life equal to men and within their own realm," Ms. Lehail says.
Ms. Sahota photographs each woman at her home in Surrey; then, Ms. Lehail interviews the woman and crafts first-person narratives that are posted alongside the photos.
Ms. Lehail and Ms. Sahota ask the women whether they want their photos retouched or natural, and each participant chooses the title for their story. Women on the site have chosen everything from "advocate" to "my mother's daughter."
"The most beautiful part of my role in Kaur project is getting to meet the Kaurs, when I have them sit up in the spotlight," Ms. Lehail says.
"If we don't create our own spaces, no one will."
Nearly 80 women have taken part so far, and the project has garnered attention in Canada, the United States and as far away as India.
Ms. Lehail recently spoke to the Toronto Labour Congress's Women's Forum, and in March was asked to speak at University of California, Berkeley, and Apple Inc.'s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.
Ms. Lehail says she's received requests from women in India asking if they can be profiled, though for now the project is sticking to women in the Vancouver region.
"The fact that we're getting this attention means there's a need for it," Ms. Lehail says.
"There's a lot of intolerance that's happening, especially to our neighbours across the border. There's an opportunity for us to create some cultural understanding," Ms. Lehail says.
Sukhie Kaur is one woman who came out to be profiled. She struggled with infertility before eventually deciding to adopt her daughter. She felt there was stigma in her community around discussing her infertility, similar to stigma she detected around divorce. She wanted to share her story to fight that.
"There's nothing wrong with adopting. There was no other way that I could have become a mother," she said. "These things in our life that we have to do … we shouldn't be ashamed of. Like, I am not ashamed of adopting my daughter."
One woman Ms. Sahota turned her camera on was her own grandmother-in-law, Gurmit Kaur-Baarwaali, who shared her story in Punjabi. She was 12 years old when the Partition of India happened.
"We left everything in a moment's notice. I remember it was noon and there was a government call out to evacuate our lives, our homes, and our Desh," Ms. Kaur-Baarwaali told the Kaur Project. "We were told our Partharpar village, in what is now Pakistan, was no longer home and we had to go to the same-named village in what is present day India."
It took the family 29 days to walk from Pakistan to Punjab.
With files from Sam Moore