Location: Kuwait
Date: 2020
Medium: Digital
Eid day. A photograph of me at age 4. I am standing upright, arms by my side, seemingly well behaved. I am wearing an oversized waistcoat, a style that has stayed with me throughout my life. It was around that time that I was diagnosed with congenital hip dislocation, six months prior to the standardization of hip adjustment treatments for newborns.
X-ray No.0-10687. Although my parents never spoke about my condition – a genetic condition that afflicts every one in 1000 infants – I knew that my hip wasn’t exactly like everyone else’s. Heidelberg-Milan-1969. Meetings with doctors and nurses in far-away countries, and sleeping with a gypsum cast, are some of my earliest memories. On my first day of high school,
I remember being challenged to go from one classroom to another in less than 5 minutes. As my body matured and my condition evolved, I became even more determined to move at the same speed as my peers in life.
Perhaps it is because of my condition that I rarely call for attention. School dance. With my camera, I have always documented people’s lives, never mine. But with the wisdom of age, I am starting to see things differently. Archival records, x-rays, doctor’s notes that I have meticulously collected over the years have resurfaced into my life, nudging me to turn the camera on them. Through a retrospective exploration of these items, I plan to re-trace my journey with CHD. I read somewhere that the subject is born of the object. These bits of history are as much a part of me, as I am of them. I would like now to tell their story through photography.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4310939ac961c259bdfc667761caa1da21a00e6373e5fca8a087fea212e347ad/x-ray-No.-0-10687.001.jpeg)
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![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/19a74061d6ffbfff741cdb543c7dfc3d61048acaed8bf7c763519eb278e03592/x-ray-No.-0-10687.007.jpeg)
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![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/357b3eee9c01392bd138496919e96f00cec3aa1dba6af9402631549e59dccfac/x-ray-No.-0-10687.012.jpeg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/85fa558b3f776b737f59a6416e28c1b3e4a1ae1fa6c9e3a89f5bf64cc76aed30/x-ray-No.-0-10687.013.jpeg)
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![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2c0a487182f0dfa0a7d0a6e078d3eeb662151b09643c7a9aec9312c82d66810b/x-ray-No.-0-10687.018.jpeg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a506943bb021a9465be9b72c718bd1dbe3ecb0c58f9e946f9d439c5664a3b7ea/x-ray-No.-0-10687.020.jpeg)
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