MADCHENLAND by Karolin Klüppel

In the state of Meghalaya in India, the Khasi indigenous people, with 1.1 million members, form the majority of the population of the eastern part of Meghalaya. The Khasi are a matrilineal society. Here, traditionally, it is the girls who are of particular importance and are the forefront of the family. The line of succession passes through the youngest daughter. If she marries, her husband is taken into her family‘s house, and the children take their mother‘s name. A family with just sons is considered unlucky, because only daughters can assure the continuity of a clan. The succession after maternal line guarantees girls and women in Meghalaya a unique economic and social independence compared to general Indian conditions. To disrespect a woman in the Khasi culture means to harm the society.
Between 2013 and 2014 Karolin Klüppel spent nine months in the Khasi village of Mawlynnong in northeast India, a village of just 95 dwellings. In her series, she concentrates on the girls themselves in contextualising them in their everyday physical environment through a sensitive balance between documentation and composition.