Pictures worth a thousand words

“A story untold, a voice unheard and a source unimaginable!” — read the lines from a photo campaign against sexual abuse, started by city-based storyteller, Yeshwanth M.

On what made him begin the campaign, he says, “The idea originated in 2014 when I saw a blog post written by my friend Tejaswini on the power of a woman, told through the personification of a vagina. At the time, one of my friends told me about how she was abused by her own father and that affected me a lot. I wanted to tell the story in a hard-hitting way so it inspires people to speak up,” says the 27-year-old, adding that it took him two years to complete the writing since he wanted to give attention to detail.

“I decided to do a photo campaign since imagery is a very powerful way of conveying a message. Based on this idea, we did a photoshoot to aesthetically depict the story around the lines written. My friend, Sudha Dronamaraju, re-worked them to add character to the lines,” says Yeshwanth, adding that 10 members worked on the campaign, which was posted on social media on International Women’s Day.

Explaining the campaign further, Yeshwanth says, “The narrative of the photo story begins with a woman who is abused sexually and wants to relieve herself from the bonds of constant abuse. Throughout the narrative, she understands the importance of a vagina as the powerful tool that creates mankind and explains how she’s ready to put an end to the abuse by demanding respect.”

It took Yeshwanth a lot of time to find a model. “I finally found someone who agreed to shoot provided that I keep her details anonymous,” he says.
Yeshwanth also worked on a documentary for the Indian Army. It was about the legacy of the Bison Division Battalion, which belonged to the Nizam’s Hyderabad Contingent and later merged with the Indian Army.

Yeshwanth also worked on several Tollywood movies. He was an Associate Director for Alias Janaki, and a Production Executive for Panjaa.