Empty athletes in southern India break sexual forms

In the picturesque landscapes of the south -west Indian state of Kerala, photographer Keerthana Kunnath captured impressive images of muscular women who pose in heroic poses. Surrounded by foaming waves, palm trees or rocky coastal beds, the women present their biceps, tense their thigh muscles and emphasize their shoulders. In doing so, you can exchange sports clothing for airy light olive dresses or feminine, checkered bikinio mountains and skirts.

In Kerala, Kunnath's home, bodybuilding is still a taboo subject for women. Women are often encouraged to adhere to traditional, feminine standards. After Kunnath came across the Instagram profile of a competitor, she discovered her fascination for female bodybuilder who pursue this sport with passion and often question social conventions as well as the wishes of her families.

"Where I come from, it is not very common," she said in a phone call with CNN. "I would hardly call it a 'community' because it is still quite new and there are very few girls who are interested in it."

In India, more and more female competitors have achieved professional status at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation in recent years. Deepika Chowdury was the first Indian in 2016 to take this step. First of all, Kunnath changed her focus in Kalaripayattu, which has its origin in Kerala, after finding that the women aimed more on muscle building. The bodybuilders, which she photographed for their series "Not what you saw", did not know each other well, but were aware from each other through social media and competitions.

"Every time I got in touch with one person and she informed that I would take pictures of the others beforehand, they said: 'Oh my god, I know her - her body is breathtaking. Her thighs are crazy!" "She said with a laugh. "It felt like it was mutual admiration between them."

For the 22-year-old Bhumika Kumar from Kochi, training for bodybuilding competitions fulfills a life dream that she was not allowed to live out in childhood. Today she is a gold medal winner in local competitions such as Miss Kerala and Miss Ernakulam and has developed into a competitive athlete from an inactive youth. "My parents did not allow me to play with other children. So I wasn't very active in my school days," she wrote.

As an adult, she found her access to movement through workout videos on YouTube and joined a gym "after many arguments with my family". Although she was interested in the professional competition right from the start, she was unsure for a long time whether she should take this path. "I couldn't stop thinking about standing on stage," she said. "Then I finally decided to look for my trainer."

Kumar is not the only woman in the series whose relatives had the feeling of being able to intervene in their personal decisions. Kunnath spoke in detail with her protagonists before her meeting to better understand her stories. "Many of them had pressure from their families and relatives: 'How do you let your daughter work in this area where you work on your muscles? You show your body," she recalled the comments that your subjects heard.

The female bodybuilders in Kerala enter a sport that has to be performed and dominated by men, which requires daily engagement among trainers who usually work with male athletes. One of the protagonists of Kunnath, 25-year-old Sandra a s, has been training for four years and is now also coaching prospective bodybuilders. By winning a qualification card, she hopes to pave the way for female competitors and to compete at an international level.

In the visualization of her series, Kunnath was inspired by the iconography of Indian goddesses, who experienced her in childhood. "I remember poster of goddesses from calm backgrounds," she said. Together with a local stylist, Kunnath pursued the goal of creating heroic portraits with gentle pastel tones and flowing fabrics, causing them from sports clothing and the bright, colorful bavarians as well as the direct light of the bodybuilding stage.

"" They are extremely muscular, strong, self -confident women ... but they still have this gentleness, "said Kunnath. She found that bodybuilder who gain weight is often perceived as "very strong, intimidating characters", but that does not always correspond to reality.

Since the beginning of the series, Kunnath has also been actively committed to supporting her protagonists by visiting their competitions and creating professional portraits from them to thank them that they are part of their work. "They had to create this room themselves," she emphasized. "These stories should be celebrated."