Sworn Virgins by Pepa Hristova (March 3, 2010) 
(28 votes, average: 3.68 out of 5)
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Categories / Documentary Portraiture / / Click here to open comments section, click again when done to close / 3 Comments
Introduction by Sophia Greiff
In the north of Albania Pepa Hristova photographed the Burrnesha or so-called “Sworn Virgins” – women who, after an old ritual, adopt a male identity and take over the role of the missing family leaders. It’s an impressive story, retold by Pepa in a very human and unobtrusive way. She captured the masculine poses and bearings, the angular features on the women’s faces, revealing their complete embodiment of their male persona. Moreover Pepa portrayed individuals and the life they have chosen to live. She pictured their surrounding, their family and work, as well as their past. Portraits from family albums show how the women have changed over time, but also how Pepa has managed to create an atmosphere of trust and intimacy between the women and herself. Her images visualize the fascination and deep respect she has for this different and unknown side of Europe.
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In Northern Albania, in the “Cursed Mountains,” which are said to have been created by the Devil himself, live the “Sworn Virgins” – the last man-women of Europe. A collection of laws from the Middle Ages, the “Kannun,” passed on for generations by word-of-mouth, allows families who have lost their male leader – often because of a blood feud – to name a woman from the family to take his place. An absolute requirement for her new status is that she makes an irrevocable vow to preserve her virginity forever.
Adult women can make the oath to take the place of the deceased father or brother. But even newborn girls can be declared sons and raised as boys as a way of providing the family with a male heir. Once in a while women also take the oath to escape a forced marriage. Through this, they expect to gain more recognition in the male-dominated society of Albania.
These so-called oath-virgins, or “Burrnesha,” are highly respected in the family and receive the status of men. They do men’s work, and dress and behave like men. They are men in a social, rather than in a sexual sense. The “Sworn Virgins” adapt their roles so perfectly that, over time, they are no longer recognized as women outside their family. Over the years, the woman in them is lost.
Pepa Hristova (1977) lives and works in Hamburg, Germany.
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Posted in category 647
Great photography and a fascinating story.
Very thought-provoking. Great images!
After very long I am looking at beautiful photographs with beautiful people.