ARTICLE 19

  • Dates
    2017 - 2018
  • Author
  • Topics Portrait, Social Issues, Contemporary Issues
  • Location Lahore, Pakistan

This a story about freedom of expression in Pakistan

Article 19, Resisting the Garotte.

By Marylise Vigneau

The article 19 of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan says:

“Freedom of speech: Every citizen shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression, and there shall be freedom of the press, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or defense of Pakistan or any part thereof, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, commission of or incitement to an offence.”

These “reasonable” restrictions are often exploited against different groups of people such as minorities, journalists, human rights activists, atheists, homosexuals, etc. They are interpreted as a freedom to disregard others’ faiths or perceptions. They produce outcasts. Status quo and ruling alliances, liberty-fearing and frustrated people led by radical, obscurantist or manipulative clerics, all acting in the name of a so-called decency, build a wall around these fabricated pariahs and silence them. In the recent years, the enforcement of Pakistan's blasphemy laws remain a significant concern, as well as new laws to extend controls over the right to freedom of expression online. Killings and attacks on journalists, media workers and human rights defenders remain endemic and characterized by ongoing impunity.

This story takes place in Lahore and constitutes a series of portraits of people whose way of thinking, living, loving, is obviously against the official Pakistani narrative. It is a story of suffering but also of resilience and hope.

After long conversations, these images have been carefully staged to respect the safety and therefore the anonymity of the people pictured. Each of them is named "Noor", a name that means light and is used indifferently for women and men.

They are the cracks in the system through which change may arise.

The future is uncertain but an activist says, “The growing instances of censorship in Pakistan reflect the fear and paranoia that currently grips the highest echelons of our state. This fear has no fixed object. At times it is directed at the youth, at other times against “unruly” ethnic minorities, intellectuals, dissidents or journalists. What is clear is that there is a pervasive feeling of insecurity, a belief that the ruling establishment’s grip on power is perpetually threatened. And here lies the secret that every authoritarian regime wants to conceal; behind its hyper-masculine bravado, it is haunted by a deep weakness stemming from its inability to cement popular consent for the dominant order.

It is this combination of fear and weakness that propels the state to enforce a draconian censorship on its subjects. The truth has to be substituted by an awkwardly woven narrative that equates dissent with disloyalty. In the hands of a paranoid state, sacred words such as ‘patriotism’, ‘sovereignty’, ‘fatherland’ and even ‘rule of law’ are emptied of their historical content and are transformed into tools for mass manipulation to discipline populations and instill fear. What we are witnessing today is the corruption of language itself.

We must, however, take comfort in the fact that censorship is bound to fail since prohibited content takes on a life of its own as a symptom of the widening cracks in the ruling system. We might be entering an era where the choreographed theater presented to us as reality might soon reach a point of exhaustion, where the enforced silences speak louder than the curated noise on display, and the absences assert themselves with a greater intensity than all manufactured characters in the theatrical performance.”

This work is dedicated to the memory of Asma Jahangir, a Pakistani lawyer who dedicated her life to defending minorities and died in Lahore in 2018.

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor I PAKISTAN / Lahore / 2017 Noor is an Ahmadi, which means that since childhood she has known that she needs to conceal this part of her identity in order to avoid verbal violence and discrimination against her and her family. She understood very early that she belonged to a persecuted minority. She used to skip school on the days when the chapter about Ahmadis was to be studied. The Ahmadiyya sect of Islam emerged from the Sunni tradition of Islam and its adherents believe in all the five pillars and articles of faith required of Muslims. Nevertheless most Pakistani Muslim considers Ahmadis as non-Muslims because they consider Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, founder of the movement, to be a prophet. Muslims consider Muhammad to be the last prophet and Ghulam Ahmad's messianic claims are considered blasphemy. For the five million Ahmadis, religious persecution has been particularly severe and systematic in Pakistan, which is the only state to have officially declared Ahmadis as non-Muslims. Pakistani laws prohibit the Ahmadis from identifying themselves as Muslims, and their freedom of religion has been curtailed by a series of ordinances, Acts and constitutional amendments. When applying for a Pakistani passport, Pakistanis are required to declare that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was an impostor prophet and his followers are non-Muslims. In 2008, Aamir Liaquat, a famous TV anchor, permitted a guest scholar on his show to declare Ahmadis liable to be killed due to the “blasphemous” nature of their faith. Within two days, two prominent Ahmadis were killed, one of them being a physician and another being a community leader. Noor is now in her thirties and is a successful independent professional woman. She is proud of her hard conquered freedom and likes reading, learning, dancing and the pleasures of life.

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor II PAKISTAN / Lahore / 2017 “I, the Native, the Muslim, the Gay, the Pakistani and finally the Artist. The perpetually angry man, refuting and relishing the fame and fear that comes with being reduced to a cliché. This is not a labor of love, but an inquisition of judgments and sweeping generalizations. Generalizations that stick to my skin like wet glue, a hundred men ejaculating their verdict all over me.” Noor is a gay visual artist and more recently has declared himself to be a Muslim atheist. He lost his father at a young age, who was serving in the armed forces, to a skirmish in Baltistan, and was declared a “shaheed”. The word originates from the Quranic Arabic word meaning "witness" and is also used to denote a martyr. The word is used as an honorific for Muslims who have died fulfilling religious duties, especially those who die waging jihad, or historically in the military expansion of Islam. Within Islamic mythology a “shaheed” transcends death and cannot die. In Pakistan the word has acquired more nationalistic sentiments and is used to legitimize the deaths of its officers by portraying them as martyrs, and creating a mythology around them using religion and state sponsored propaganda. After the loss of his father, Noor was informed that there was no need to mourn him, as he was still alive, a statement, which would later in his life, helps Noor come to terms with the faith he was born into. In his teenage years Noor became aware of his attraction towards other boys. He fell passionately in love with a much older man who would eventually lead him into a religious cult and was the beginning of a painful romance. These experiences eventually allowed Noor to formulate a personal identity construct. Noor had once written, “there is a deep anger inside of me and a fire,” which much like the burdens of his identities, he carries inside of himself with great pride. Noor pursued partial higher education in Europe with a thesis titled “Safety and the pursuit of the safe space,” which according to him “of all the utopian postulations, is perhaps the most dangerous idea of all. This idea instills within us visions of a just democratic state, a life void of suffering, and eternal bliss after death, and most importantly it forces us to selflessly commit our lives towards the realization of such delusional ideas.” Noor is back in Pakistan where he lives with his mother who knows that he is gay and fears for his safety. In order to spare her from further anguish, he keeps his atheism to himself. He currently has no lover, “I do not wish to be somebody’s dirty little secret”.

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor IX Lahore / Pakistan / 2018 These two lovers have 37 years of age difference. They went through an ordeal to be together. He exudes a gentle and dense sensuality as well as a sparking wit. He is a designer, a writer and offers drawing lessons. He is repelled by religion and the way people spend their life censuring themselves. He is very active on social medias where he flirts with dangerous unspeakable narratives and epistemologies. She is a poised and sharp young woman and she tells us their story: “As a child in an average patriarchal Muslim family, I always felt that something was missing in our life. This something has finally a name and it is “rationality”. My quest led me to read a lot. About religion but also philosophy, history and social constructs. One day I came across some of the poems and articles written by my husband to be. Impressed and inspired, I sent him a friend request. Our first chat took place at 3 am during the holy month of Ramadan. We started a conversation that has since never ceased. I appreciated his bluntness. The way he was stripping naked our society, uncovering official lies and national myths. It was such an exhilarating contrast with the constant hypocrisy I was used to. We talked a lot, I came to his place to borrow books, and I started thinking of him more and more relentlessly. I was 22 years old but I knew he was the man I wanted to be with. I shared my feelings with him. He warned me about the inevitable and multiple difficulties that would arise. Aware of these realities, I, however, chose to marry him. We did a Nikkah (Muslim marriage) in court but kept it secret. I knew my family would never accept it because they would think I have brought disgrace onto them. So I decided to leave the house without informing anyone. They nevertheless tracked me, hunt me down, slapped me and took me back home. My family kept me locked in during 16 days. The only reason why they did not kill me was their ignorance about my marriage. My only contact with the outer world was my laptop, which my family did not, know about and through which I could inform my dear Noor about the situation. Helped by some lawyer friends he filed a case against my family and won it. Right after the verdict we left for another city for safety reasons. We struggled to make both ends meet in an alien place. It's been 5 years now. We both never had any regret. We hope to bring positive changes in our society by writing on different forums about women rights, freedom of expression, resisting pressure and resilience.

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor V PAKISTAN / Lahore / 2018 Noor was born in Karachi to an affluent family. He decided to move to Lahore eight years ago to break free and live far away from his relatives. “I could not live in a box anymore” he said. He was above all building distances with a troubled and painful past. According to local standards he was an immensely beautiful child with fair skin and big eyes. It soon made him a victim. At the age of 6 his uncle raped him. A little later, the driver of the family followed. Soon after, a cousin forced him to perform oral sex. He was too little and too petrified to complain and these abuses went on throughout his childhood and teenage. Up to this conversation, nobody knew about it. Noor identifies as gay and is very aware how deep-rooted homophobia is in Pakistan. The sad irony of it is that pedophiles that rape little boys are very prompt to hold homosexuals up to public opprobrium. “Hypocrisy is the norm,” says Noor. At 31, Noor is enjoying “the sad privilege of being a man” in a society where girls are regrettably denied almost any kind of independent life. Noor has never been in love yet but remains hopeful. He will, in any case, always refuse to marry a girl just for the sake of pretending. “It would ruin both our lives”, he says. Alas many of his gay friends have consented to be wed because of the immense and constant pressure. He poses naked, veiled only by a ‘Sehra’. This adornment is a traditional headdress worn by Indian and Pakistani grooms on their weddings. They remove it before taking possession of their bride. “It felt suffocating”, he says.

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor X PAKISTAN / Lahore / 2017 / Noor is a fearless woman in her fifties. After the birth of her 3 children, she became an activist. “A peace and environmental activist” as she defines herself. She frequently organizes demonstration against the terrible events that happen regularly. Against the looting of a Christian colony, against discrimination, against the cutting of old trees along the main canal of Lahore, against blasphemy laws, against the persecution of the Ahmadi community, against the abduction of bloggers by the Pakistani state and very recently in memory of Mashal Khan who was lynched by an angry mob of fellow students in the premises of his university, on April 13, 2017, over fake allegations of posting blasphemous content online. She listens to young people who feel different and lost or hopeless. She has received several death threats and spent some nights in police custody because of her protests. Sometimes she takes a spray and drives through the night to paint walls with peace slogans.

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor VI Pakistan / Lahore / 2017 Noor has been a bright, curious, sharp-eyed child. In his teenage he found it more and more difficult to accept the omnipresent religious narrative and began to question it. He battled. He tried believing. In vain. More and more, his vivacity, his sexual urge, his observations throve him away from Islam. For example, he used to be attracted by sculptures and Islam was calling them idols and advocating their destruction. Nowadays he is an atheist without any doubt or regret. He is therefore also an apostate and this makes him “wajib-ul-qatal” (liable to be killed) according to some extremists. He knows that announcing apostasy means inviting the risk of death – even if spared by government authorities and courts, a fanatic mob would certainly not have mercy on him. For that reason, we choose to photograph him wrapped in a shroud on the roof above a city that he loves and is sad to see being destroyed by corruption, religious intolerance, social indifference and a kind of feudal capitalism. Noor is now a photographer and is building a poignant and powerful imagery of his city.

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor IV PAKISTAN / Lahore /2018 Noor grew up in a devout family in Saudi Arabia. Back in Lahore in his late teens, he became part of the infamous Jammat-ud Dawah organization that is the political arm of Lashkar-e-Taiba one of the largest and most active Islamic terrorist organizations in South Asia, operating mainly from Pakistan. He became very involved and used to blog. At some point he wanted to write an article about the challenges posed to Islam by atheism. On that day he decided to read some pages of the Quran in an objective manner for the first time in his life. The affirmation that the Quran could never be doubted suddenly appeared strange. He felt trapped in a circular argument. He made a list of similar questionably unquestionable affirmations. He felt terrified because he could see himself becoming an apostate. “It was so sudden” he said. “In the morning I offered prayers, in the evening I had lost my faith. It was such a surprise”. After a phase of sideration he came to terms with his new perspectives. He felt lighter and now compares himself with a bird freed from its cage. He studied medicine and decided to become a psychiatrist. He wishes to stay in Pakistan and help others as much as he can. “Someone needs to listen to the suffocating and buried suffering of people” he says.

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor XIII PAKISTAN / Lahore / 2017 / Noor, who is in her late thirties, is married to a man she had never seen before the day of her wedding. Needless to say that she was a virgin. She was utterly ignorant and very scared of everything sexual. Her defloration took a week. She is now very aware that she was lucky not to be raped during her wedding night like it happens too often. Today she loves her husband and her body. Posing naked in front of a camera was for her, despite her immense shyness, a celebration of life and love.

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor XV PAKISTAN / Lahore / 2017 / In 1977 under the military rule of late General Zia-ul-Haq, the Pakistani government decided to implement The Hudood Ordinances. It replaced parts of the British-era Pakistan Penal Code. The Hudood Law was intended to implement Sharia law or bring Pakistani law into "conformity with the injunctions of Islam", by enforcing punishments mentioned in the Quran for Zina. Zina relates to adultery or fornication - any extramarital sex - and is prohibited in Islam. If it has become more frequent for young people to date and sometimes have extra-marital sexual relationships, they need to be cautious and extremely discreet and they rarely live together outside marriage This picture is taken on the rooftop of a young couple. They got married a year ago but had been living together since the past 3 years. They belong to two different sects of Islam and they had to fight with many prejudices and discontent from their families.

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor VIII Pakistan/ Lahore / 2017 / Noor is the grandson of two legendary figures of the Pakistani cinema. He belongs to the Shia community but is a non-believer. He and his wife chose to give birth to their son in America so that he possesses an American passport and is never stuck in Pakistan. He poses in an empty pool of a house that is soon to be destroyed and replaced by one more commercial mall. He is tired of a society that practices hypocrisy on a daily basis out of all kind of social and religious fears. “I'm afraid of your fears because it is out of fear that you act most irrationally”, he said.

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor VII PAKISTAN / Lahore / 2017 / Noor, whose pet name is Jupiter, is very aware that he is not very popular among most Muslims despite his blue eyes and his white fur that make him very much look like the Hoors awaiting the pious and the righteous in Paradise. Therefore he has chosen to wear a cat mask when he ventures out of his house. Cats are said to have been Muhammad’s best-loved animals. Masquerading as a cat ensures his safety.

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor XI PAKISTAN / Lahore /2018 Noor is a teacher, activist and a companion of many animals, particularly cats. As a teacher he is happy that to see that some of his students have gone on to think beyond individual success and societal expectations of what constitutes the good life. For others he is happy that they are earning and employed and finding ways to survive. Activism has been a mixed bag. Noor has experienced the elation that comes from unity and communion in national movements - particularly, the movement for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan. But he has also watched on as friends have been abducted, as writers have been hushed and many have left the country. He says, “I am working in the margins, teaching, trying to put out some fires, sometimes’. To be visible is to be disappeared. To be patient then is the call of the day. He notes, “revolutions are not a science, Lenin didn’t think he would see one in his lifetime, two weeks later he was the leader of one”. As for the cats and animals - with them it is always communion, always unity.

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor III PAKISTAN / Lahore / 2017 / Dancing used to be part of life in Pakistan until the rise of military ruler Zia-ul-Haq in 1977 funded by the US during the cold war in an attempt to defeat the soviets in Afghanistan. In his policy towards a radical islamization of society, he banned classical dance performances from the airwaves and cracked down on popular Kathak performers. Kathak is one of the major forms of Indian classical dance. Its origin is attributed to the travelling bards of ancient northern India, known as Kathakars or storytellers. Nowadays, Kathak has gone virtually underground, with only a few remaining qualified instructors and even fewer public performances. Noor is a gorgeous woman who has decided to learn this dance. She considers herself “as the most beautiful creation of God” and likes to take pleasure in her beauty, her body and her sensuality. Despite being religious, she refuses to stay in the gray cage attributed to women by the clerics and the so-called public sense of decency. She is one of the many women who have started questioning their role in the society and are refusing to be solely a wife, a daughter or a mother.

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor XII PAKISTAN / Lahore / 2017 / I encountered this little boy sleeping on a flowery quilt at a swinger party. In the recent years through the convenience of social media, parties are organized on weekends at some participant’s places and married couples of all ages gather. Some nights are wilder than others but some ingredients remain the same: Illegal booze (alcohol is forbidden in Pakistan and police is allowed to arrest people found with a bottle), dimmed lights, cautiously blinded windows and music welcome guests. Women wear transparent tops, men crack jokes and dance with each other's wives. "We are doing what you do in the west when you are young. These parties have become essential. It is a moment solely for ourselves, we forget responsibilities and just want to have fun" says a guest. "Enjoying? Enjoying?” asks a tipsy man. "Enjoy but not to loudly. Children are sleeping in the next room", answers a woman. Furtive hands, dancing hips, deep laughter, mellowness, décolletage, music. A house in the sensual night of Lahore, a moment of innocence.

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor XVIII Pakistan / Lahore / 2018 Noor is a young man with a considerable longing for life and a sense of humour. He grew up in the outskirts of Peshawar in a traditional Pashtun family whose existence is directed by Islam and the ancient Pashtunwali Honor code. Religious anthropologists believe Pashtunwali originated millennia ago during pagan times and has, in many ways, fused with Islamic tradition. Pashtunwali governs and regulates nearly all aspects of life ranging from tribal affairs to individual "honor" and behavior. The code demands that men protect Zan, Zar, Zameen, which translates to women, treasure and land. Noor’s mother passed away when he was still a child and was a traditional housewife who lived in seclusion. Noor left Peshawar in order to attend NCA (National College of Art) in Lahore. He did so without the approval of a family who does not share or even understand his passion for art. He lives in a small room decorated with his painted and a plastic mannequin wearing a burqa. He receives with great enthusiasm the rare travelers who pass through Lahore and wishes to leave a country that he considers rough and somehow alien to him.

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor XIV PAKISTAN / Lahore / 2017 / Noor is a musician in his thirties who moved to Lahore some years ago. To please his parents, he spent a while in England studying something he was not interested in. He left Pakistan heart broken and came back uncured. He almost surrendered to an arrange marriage but escaped this dead-end a week before the wedding. Earlier in his life he had tried to force himself to believe and to behave accordingly. He had even stopped playing the guitar and listening to music. All in vain since he is nowadays an atheist. He studied Marxism and was a social activist for a while but is slowly giving up because “everything is so screwed-up in this country. Nowadays he finds shelter and comfort in his passion for music. "The only thing that matters now is how to make my career in music, that’s all. And I am loving the whole process. "

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor XX Lahore / Pakistan / 2018 Noor is a musician, a satirist and a vlogger. He regularly attacks sacred institutions, denounces corruption and the way minorities and women are treated in Pakistan. “I want to highlight serious issues in a casual, funny and satirical manner and set the stage for proper, serious discussion. I want to push boundaries, encourage honest thinking, and bring taboo subjects to the fore. I want to do my part in creating a society where no one is afraid to speak the truth. And, I want to entertain people”, he says. He has not repudiate God because he sometimes needs him for musical inspiration.

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor XVI PAKISTAN / Lahore / 2017 / Noor grew up in a family of artists. His mother is a writer and his father was a painter. He spent his childhood surrounded among the intellectual friends of his parents and by books both from the subcontinent and the west. He is the only person I encountered who did not need to fight against a conservative religious family. From childhood he was free to be whom he wanted and this freedom was a mental bubble within a highly restrictive society. Nowadays he is a filmmaker, floating between a rich inner world populated by Tarkovsky or Abbas Kiarostami and the documentary work he does for a living. He might leave Pakistan for a while in order to find more opportunities.

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor XVII PAKISTAN / Lahore / 2017 / Noor is a well-read, witty, sensitive, bright young woman. She is unmarried. She never accepted any proposal and is unlikely to ever do so. Her marriage would be based on a lie. She is an atheist and she knows that it is unconceivable to announce it. She has to pretend all the time. “I am like a ghost among others. I have to constantly hide who I am”. She hopes to leave Pakistan.

© Marylise Vigneau - Image from the ARTICLE 19 photography project
i

Noor XIX PAKISTAN / Lahore / 2018 On a crisp winter Sunday afternoon, a group of friends gathers in a courtyard around a fire. They come from all walks of life but have something in common: they all have left the straight path of religion and belong to a secret atheist group on social medias. Some are atheists, some are agnostic, and some just do not wish to follow a social pattern that does not suit their aspirations. All of them keep questioning what was imposed on them from their earliest age. They live in a mental chasm and they all went through a phase of alienation and extreme loneliness. They are profoundly thankful to social medias that enable them to encounter like-minded people and break a harrowing isolation. Their group is growing and they meet regularly to share thoughts and speak freely about their concerns. Some couples have been formed as well.

Latest Projects

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Stay in the loop


We will send you weekly news on contemporary photography. You can change your mind at any time. We will treat your data with respect. For more information please visit our privacy policy. By ticking here, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with them. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.