Born Into Brothels

Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman’s Born into Brothels is a feature-length documentary that follows the lives of seven children growing up in a red light district of Sonagchi, Calcutta. Briski decides to invite the children to a photography class, where she gives each child a camera and trains them. By taking photographs, the children awaken to their own talents and sense of worth.

According to Gary Gute and Deanne S. Gute “too much deprivation does not seem to lead to innovative thinking. When surviving is precarious… there is little energy for learning and experimenting” (355). This concept is true for the children in Born into Brothels because they are raised in a poor environment with limited resources. However, an outsider (Zana), is able to initiate the interest of photography.

The article stresses the role of parents in shaping the child’s life. “Cultural capital… consists of educational aspirations of one’s parents, the nonacademic knowledge one absorbs in the home, the informal learning interests, spending time together versus leaving children alone” (356). It is safe to say that children living in the red light areas have poor cultural capital because their parents do not expect them to attain education or explore nonacademic knowledge. The lives of the girls circulate around cleaning and managing duties around the house. For example, Kochi washes the dishes and mops the floor twice a day.

All seven children presented in the video have a complex life, mainly because of the poverty factor. “Forty years of optimal experience literature has demonstrated that complexity is central to the lives of creative person” (355). Perhaps, the intervention of Zana along with the complexity central to the lives of the kids allows them to explore their photographic skills.

The article ends with “it is our thesis that such families provide optimal conditions for cultivating creativity, environments that help children find self-fulfillment and mature into adults...