Meet the artist: Saiyna Bashir
Mosaic recently covered the WOMAN trial, which explored the effectiveness of a drug called tranexamic acid to reduce maternal deaths.
As part of our story we commissioned in-country photographers to meet some of the researchers and families involved in the first stage of the trial and the subsequent study that is now underway.
Here we meet Saiyna Bashir, a photographer based in Pakistan.
Who are you?
I am a Pakistan-born photojournalist currently based in Islamabad. I have recently moved back from the US where I was working as a staff photographer as a local newspaper Cap Times in Madison, Wisconsin. Ever since I have moved back I have started working for various publications including the NYT and Reuters among others. I also work with Unicef for which I have to travel to a lot of remote areas in Pakistan.
How did you find working on this commission?
I was approached to do the WOMAN story after the art director at Mosaic had found me on Women Photograph. This is a website that bridges the gap between male and female photographers worldwide.
Working on the WOMAN story was a unique experience for me as I had never really photographed in depth at a hospital in-depth before. It was quite something experiencing the labour room and operating theatre first hand.
It was also one of the most difficult stories I have ever shot, because I could see so many women in pain.
As I was photographing they told one of the women in the postnatal ward that her child had passed away. She was of course very emotional after hearing the news. While I did take a photograph or two because she didn’t mind, it was hard for me to document her pain.
The labour room and theatre were also very graphic. I also learned a lot about healthcare in a developing country like Pakistan and how some people are more fortunate than others to be able to afford better healthcare.
What surprised you about the project?
Population control is one of the biggest problems that Pakistan faces. I was told by nurses and other hospital staff that some patients come every year for delivery, and even then they don’t want birth control.
One of the nurses told me that she thinks that the government should start charging these people for deliveries so that they think twice before having another child. Another told me that some people who are uneducated from remote villages sell their daughters.
The hospital where I photographed last year alone had 22,000 deliveries.
What was the biggest challenge?
The biggest challenge was to get permission from subjects in order to shoot them. Most of the women were from conservative backgrounds and did not want to be photographed. The places where I was photographing were also extremely graphic and there was a lot of blood. It was also tough to shoot at certain times because I wanted to maintain the dignity of my subjects.
How did you begin as a photographer?
Growing up, I took pictures of anything and everything around me that I found interesting. During my thesis year in college I took photos at a Sikh Gurdwara and a prominent local newspaper published them. That was the first time I realised this is what I wanted to do with my life.
The following year I went to the US for my Master’s. I wanted to study photojournalism but I couldn’t afford it, so I went with journalism as I got a full scholarship. I did a lot of photography-related internships during my course. I found mentors in Chicago, worked at the college newspaper and also went to cover the riots in Ferguson when the Black Lives Matter movement was just started, which added greatly to my portfolio.
After graduation I found work at a local newspaper but I always wanted to come back to Pakistan and tell stories that I felt were so important.
What barriers do you face in your work?
Pakistan is a tough country to work as a female photographer, especially when there are so few of us. It is also difficult in terms of safety — I always have to make sure that my security is not at risk if I am photographing alone in certain areas.
It is tough to be accepted among the industry in Pakistan. Historically they have used only male photographers.
But, at the same time, it is a great advantage to be a woman in certain places in Pakistan. The access I get would be almost impossible for a male photographer because a lot of these areas are extremely conservative.
Who or what inspires you?
The people and their stories in Pakistan inspire me. My mentors in the West, like Lynsey Addario, John White and Adrees Latif, inspire me to produce better work.
What’s your dream commission?
Fortunately I am already working with a lot of the publications that I had dreamt of, but I would love for my work to be featured in Time magazine and National Geographic. I would also like to win awards such as World Press Photo contest.
In-story images: Saiyna Bashir © Wellcome Trust
