Remembering Your Roots - A Birthday Special
When I look at myself in the mirror, I attribute every feature to an ancestor. My almond shaped eyes are from my mom, my cheekbones are from my dad and I'm pretty sure my legs are from my great-grandpa (apparently he stood at 6'2, taller than your average Bengali).
I am myself. I have my own personality - but I am also a product of my environment. I wasn't lucky enough to be born into a household with wealthy parents, but I was able to inherit their wanderlust nonetheless.
My mother became a flight attendant when she was 19 to help make ends meet when her father's business suddenly crashed. Back in the "those days", stewardesses were considered a class of their own. They were required to take a mandatory etiquette course, walk with their shoulders back, and pin a sari perfectly in six minutes or less.
She's been to 25 different countries and visited countless cities.
"Which country had the most beautiful men?"
"Greece, definitely Greece. Maybe Italy, amar mone nai."
She recalled a time when she was on a connecting flight from Rome to Dhaka. One of the passengers was an Italian man who definitely wanted more than just the the Tetley Tea and biscuits.
"We talked for a little bit and he asked me for my number. So I asked him for his instead and he gave me his hotel room number at the Sheraton."
"So - did you go back?"
"Tumi ki pagol?" - Are you crazy?
For her 54th birthday this year, I decided to look back at my roots and figure out a present that had more sentimental than material value. I feel so blessed to have grown up in a household with a parent who is so open-minded thanks to her cosmopolitan experiences, so I felt like the best gift would pay homage to that.
The middle image above is my mom's headshot from the 1980's. She's about 22 in the photograph, and I figured it would be a cool idea to recreate the photo given our super similar features. I reached out to journalist and dear friend Michael Cusanelli to help shoot this project and with his help, I was able to create something very special.
We knew we needed blank white walls, and since Michael is from Suffolk County, Long Islan, we figured the best place to take the photos would be at the Wang Center at Stony Brook University - my alma mater.
I'll admit, I don't know how to wrap a sari at all. I found a similarly toned one in my mom's closet and said I would use it as a prop for my friend's "photo shoot." She had no idea. I recreated the pin using black felt and gold paper from Michael's. Since this is only a collage of 3 head shots, taking the photographs was the easiest part.
We decided to shoot Susana first so she would know what to look for once it came time to take my photos. One thing we noticed immediately was the tone difference on her neck versus her face. We were able to fix that with powder of course.
This is probably one of my favorite photographs from the day. We played with different angles for fun, but we decided to stick to the original composition of the head shot.
I have a pair of snaggleteeth, so I'm not as inclined to smile with my teeth showing.
My sister came up with the above caption obviously.
Who's the diva here? No seriously.
Lastly, I'd like to give a special shout out to Michael for making this all possible!