Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
18/10/2019 - India - A sugarcane bundle

LePictorium_0223243.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A couple of sugarcane plantation owners in Beed District, Maharashtra.

LePictorium_0223244.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A sugarcane plantation damaged by the heavy monsoon in Beed District, Maharashtra.

LePictorium_0223245.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A Hindu celebration is organised by sugarcane cutters in order to bring a good harvest season and a good health. Beed District, Maharashtra.

LePictorium_0223246.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A Hindu celebration is organised by sugarcane cutters in order to bring a good harvest season and a good health. Beed District, Maharashtra.

LePictorium_0223247.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A Hindu celebration is organised by sugarcane cutters in order to bring a good harvest season and a good health.Goats were therefore sacrificed.
Beed District, Maharashtra.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A Hindu celebration is organised by sugarcane cutters in order to bring a good harvest season and a good health.Goats were therefore sacrificed.
Beed District, Maharashtra.

LePictorium_0223249.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A Hindu celebration is organised by sugarcane cutters in order to bring a good harvest season and a good health. Beed District, Maharashtra.

LePictorium_0223250.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A Hindu celebration is organised by sugarcane cutters in order to bring a good harvest season and a good health. Beed District, Maharashtra.

LePictorium_0223251.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A Hindu celebration was organized by sugarcane cutters in order to bring good fortune for the harvest season. Women are cooking for all the guests. Beed District, Maharashtra.

LePictorium_0223252.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A Hindu celebration was organized by sugarcane cutters in order to bring good fortune for the harvest season. Women are cooking for all the guests. Beed District, Maharashtra.

LePictorium_0223253.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A Hindu celebration was organized by sugarcane cutters in order to bring good fortune for the harvest season. Women are cooking for all the guests. Beed District, Maharashtra.

LePictorium_0223254.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - Portrait of a man during a Hindu celebration, wearing a yellow turban typical of important religious celebrations.

LePictorium_0223255.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - Portrait of a man during a Hindu celebration, wearing a yellow turban typical of important religious celebrations.

LePictorium_0223256.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - Portrait of a man during a Hindu celebration, wearing a yellow turban typical of important religious celebrations.

LePictorium_0223257.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - Portrait of a man during a Hindu celebration, wearing a yellow turban typical of important religious celebrations.

LePictorium_0223258.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A Hindu celebration was organized by sugarcane cutters in order to bring good fortune for the harvest season. A woman is in trance during the religious ceremony.
Beed District, Maharashtra.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A Hindu celebration is organised by sugarcane cutters in order to bring a good harvest season and a good health. Beed District, Maharashtra.

LePictorium_0223260.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - Young girls play in the water after the severe monsoon flooded the region. Beed District, Maharashtra.

LePictorium_0223261.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A village of the "Untouchable" caste in Beed District, Maharashtra.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A village of the "Untouchable" caste in Beed District, Maharashtra.

LePictorium_0223263.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A knife used to cut sugarcanes, called a "kiota".

LePictorium_0223264.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - vandana Khandale, 30 years old, had a hysterectomy at 28 years old after consulting a surgeon from the private sector because of excessive bleeding.
It's her contractor, a "mukadam", that advanced her the money for the surgery with an interest rate reaching 60% after a few months. She's still paying it back today, and her health issues have only worsened since then. Beed Distrcit, Maharashtra.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - The scar left after a hysterectomy (total ablation of the uterus). The surgery was performed by a surgeon from the private health sector, on a young woman that didn't need to be operated.

LePictorium_0223266.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - The scar left after a hysterectomy (total ablation of the uterus). The surgery was performed by a surgeon from the private health sector, on a young woman that didn't need to be operated.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - Some millet freshly harvested.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - Women from the "Untouchable" caste, sitting in front of their house. Beed District, Maharashtra.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A village of the "Untouchable" caste in Beed District, Maharashtra.

LePictorium_0223270.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - vandana Khandale, 30 years old, had a hysterectomy at 28 years old after consulting a surgeon from the private sector because of excessive bleeding.
It's her contractor, a "mukadam", that advanced her the money for the surgery with an interest rate reaching 60% after a few months. She's still paying it back today, and her health issues have only worsened since then. Beed Distrcit, Maharashtra.

LePictorium_0223271.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - vandana Khandale, 30 years old, had a hysterectomy at 28 years old after consulting a surgeon from the private sector because of excessive bleeding.
It's her contractor, a "mukadam", that advanced her the money for the surgery with an interest rate reaching 60% after a few months. She's still paying it back today, and her health issues have only worsened since then. Beed Distrcit, Maharashtra.

LePictorium_0223272.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - Two young boys from the "Untouchable" caste walk around their cows to feed it.

LePictorium_0223273.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A knife used to cut sugarcanes, called a "kiota".

LePictorium_0223274.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A knife used to cut sugarcanes, called a "kiota".

LePictorium_0223275.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - Tattoos of Hindu prayers on the arm of a woman.

LePictorium_0223276.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - Tattoos of Hindu prayers on the arm of a woman.

LePictorium_0223277.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - Temporary toilets installed near a plantation in Karnataka State, made of straw and saris.
Living conditions are particularly harsh for women working in the fields, especially when they have their menstruations.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - Portrait of an "Untouchable" woman. Beed District, Maharashtra.

LePictorium_0223279.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - Landscape of Beed District, particularly known for being affected by drought every year, which pushes the inhabitants of the region to migrate elsewhere to find work.

LePictorium_0223280.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - Manisha Tokle (in green), a human rights activist, visits sugarcane cutters of Kasari Bodkha in Beed District, Maharashtra, before they migrate for the harvest season in the south of the country.
Since more than a decade, she’s fighting for farmers and laborers rights in the region. She meets regularly with sugarcane cutters who had a hysterectomy to collect their testimonies about their health and their work conditions. In this small village alone, more than 15 women cutters had a hysterectomy in a private hospital.
In May 2019, she was among the activists disclosing the scandal of coerced hysterectomies among sugarcane workers in India, after several years of work and surveys. Indian medias soon relayed the information, pushing the government to take over the case and form a State Committee to conduct official surveys in Beed District.
So far, the Committee has only issued recommandations after their survey, but no concrete regulations or sanctions were implemented yet.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A group of seven women from Kasari Bodkha village, Beed District. All of them are sugarcane cutters and underwent a hysterectomy in a hospital from the private health sector. none of them received a medical report after the surgery.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - A. Waghmari underwent a hysterectomy 8 years ago in a private hospital because of excessive bleedings. She was never given any medical report, and was charged 30,000 rupees.
Since then, her health issues worsened. She had to take her two daughters out of school in order to get help in the fields to still be considered as efficient.
Husbands and wives are hired as a unit - a « kiota », which also designates the knife used to cut the canes. Kasari Bodkha, Beed District.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - The two daughters of A. Waghmari had to quit school in order to help their mother in the sugarcane plantations after her hysterectomy left her weakened. The sugarcane cutting tradition is often passed on from a generation to the next one, young children often being caught up helping their parents in the fields at a very young age. Kasari Bodkha, Beed District.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - Indrabai Sadhu Waghmare, 5é years old, has been cutting sugarcanes since she's 14 years old after getting married. After three pregnancies and sterilisation at 28 years old, she got breast cancer, and had to get her right breast removed. A few years later, while consulting a private doctor for stomach pain, she was told that her uterus was "infected" after doing only a few blood tests. She had a hysterectomy four days after, and feels severely weakened since the procedure. She can't work anymore, but her daughters and sons now join her husband in the fields. Kasari Bodkha, Beed District.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - Sheela Manik Waghame, 32 years old, had a hysterectomy at 20 years old after excessive bleedings and stomach pain. She first consulted a public doctor that advised rest, before consulting a private doctor who ordered to perform the surgery on the very same day. According to him, her uterus was « bulky » and there were risks of cancer.
She had to borrow 40,000 rupees to her mukadam for the surgery, and needed several years before managing to pay it back.
She now feels incomplete and mentally low since a part of herself has been taken away.
Her pain has only increased since the surgery, that she deeply regrets doing. Kasari Bodkha, Beed District.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - The scar left after a hysterectomy (total ablation of the uterus). The surgery was performed by a surgeon from the private health sector, on a young woman that didn't need to be operated.

LePictorium_0223287.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - The scar left after a hysterectomy (total ablation of the uterus). The surgery was performed by a surgeon from the private health sector, on a young woman that didn't need to be operated.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - Ramesh Waghmari, sugarcane cutter, in the village of Kasari Bodkha. Beed District.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
01/11/2019 - India - The Ramesh Waghmari couple, sugarcane cutters since their teenage years, posing in Kasari Bodkha for a portrait.
Despite the cutting season usually starting in October, they're still waiting for their departure date towards fields in the south of the country. This year has seen the worst monsoon since 50 years, and many plantations were left totally flooded which delayed the harvesting season considerably.
The wife underwent a hysterectomy 8 years ago in a private hospital because of excessive bleedings. She was never given any medical report, and was charged 30,000 rupees.
Since then, her health issues worsened. She had to take her two daughters out of school in order to get help in the fields to still be considered as efficient.
Husbands and wives are hired as a unit - a « kiota », which also designates the knife used to cut the canes.
Only men get a hold of the salaries, and women are left totally dependent of them.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
02/11/2019 - India - Asha, 29 ans. Coupeuse de canne à sucre de la région de Beed.
Mariée à 12 ans, elle a eu le premier de ses trois enfants à 14 ans. Plus tard, elle donne naissance à deuxième enfant au milieu des plantations, prématurément en raison de l’intense travail physique qu’elle subit au quotidien. Le manque d’infrastructure médicale ou d’aide dans les champs ont eu raison de son fils: il est décédé cinq jours plus tard.

Elle subit une hystérectomie à 27 ans après des complications gynécologiques non résolues. L’opération est pratiquée par un médecin privé, qui ne lui a donné aucun rapport médical suite à la procédure. Ne pesant que 34 kilos aujourd’hui, ses problèmes de santé n’ont qu’empiré depuis l’opération. Asha décrit avec pudeur les conséquences dévastatrice de la vie dans les camps de fortunes pour les femmes: manque d’hygiène, agressions sexuelles, maris violents…


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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
02/11/2019 - India - The scar left after a hysterectomy (total ablation of the uterus). The surgery was performed by a surgeon from the private health sector, on a young woman that didn't need to be operated.

LePictorium_0223292.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
02/11/2019 - India - The scar left after a hysterectomy (total ablation of the uterus). The surgery was performed by a surgeon from the private health sector, on a young woman that didn't need to be operated.

LePictorium_0223293.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
02/11/2019 - India - Asha Jogband is 29 years old, and cuts sugarcane since she's barely 11 years old, first with her parents then with her husband after marrying him at 14.
On her third pregnancy, she had a miscarriage, and consulted a doctor in a Private Hospital in the state of Karnataka, where she was cutting.
The doctor told her that he could solve her issues, but if it’s cancer it would be a very long and expensive treatment, so she might as well remove everything - especially since she "might have cancer in any case in the future".
The surgery costed her 35,000 rupees ($420). She couldn't borrow money to her mukadam since she already owned him too much, so she turned to a private loaner. It took her three years to pay him back.
Since then, she spent another 20'000 rupees because of health complications linked to the surgery. Kasari Bodkha, Beed District.

LePictorium_0223294.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
02/11/2019 - India - Asha Jogband is 29 years old, and cuts sugarcane since she's barely 11 years old, first with her parents then with her husband after marrying him at 14.
On her third pregnancy, she had a miscarriage, and consulted a doctor in a Private Hospital in the state of Karnataka, where she was cutting.
The doctor told her that he could solve her issues, but if it’s cancer it would be a very long and expensive treatment, so she might as well remove everything - especially since she "might have cancer in any case in the future".
The surgery costed her 35,000 rupees ($420). She couldn't borrow money to her mukadam since she already owned him too much, so she turned to a private loaner. It took her three years to pay him back.
Since then, she spent another 20'000 rupees because of health complications linked to the surgery. Kasari Bodkha, Beed District.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
02/11/2019 - India - Trucks await for the beginning of the harvest season before migrating from Beed, Mahrashtra, towards the south of the country. each truck will transport more than 25 sugarcane cutters.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
02/11/2019 - India - A group of seven women from Soni Moha village, Beed District. All of them are sugarcane cutters and underwent a hysterectomy in a hospital from the private health sector. none of them received a medical report after the surgery. In this village, more than 35% of the women had a hysterectomy.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
02/11/2019 - India - Manisha Gayabai Sathe, 27, had a hysterectomy at 21 years old because of « excessive bleedings ». A first public doctor told her to get medicines and rest, while a private doctor told her that her uterus was « infected » and « swollen » and had to be taken out immediately.
After the surgery, she was only given a bill with no mention of the surgery.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
02/11/2019 - India - Usha Tonde got married at 14 years old and had three kids, at 16, 17 and 18 years old before being sterilised. A year ago, she started having excessive bleeding and pain in her joints.
A private doctor told her she had a “swollen” and "useless" uterus, and operated her the next day. Since the surgery, she suffers from bladder problems.
She didn’t get any medical report or surgery papers after. She asked several times the hospital to deliver it to her, but still hasn't got an answer.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
02/11/2019 - India - Sarika Tonde, 25 years old, underwent a hysterectomy in September 2018 after consulting a private doctor for excessive bleedings. She’s among that rare women who was given medical rapport after the surgery. The report states that she had a « bulky » uterus, however, Dr Ghada Hatem - a french obstetrician and gynecologist specialized in gynecological surgeries - analyzed the report and countered the diagnosis: the patient has a perfectly healthy uterus, and there was no reason to operate.

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Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
02/11/2019 - India - Savivtvi Tonde is 31 years old and had a hysterectomy at 28 years old. Just like most of the women, she got married at 14 years old, had kids and got sterilized at 25 years old. When consulting a public doctor for stomach pain, she was prescribed medicines and rest. Once consulting a second doctor, she was told she had a tumor in her uterus, and was advised to get a surgery straight away. Although this doctor this doctor worked in a public hospital, he operated her as a private one in his own clinic and therefore charged her 35 000 rupees for the surgery. She wasn’t given any medical report after it. She payed the surgery with an advance by her mukadam, that she is still paying back.

LePictorium_0223301.jpg

Chloé Sharrock / Le Pictorium -
India, the harvest of the uterus -
02/11/2019 - India - Savivtvi Tonde is 31 years old and had a hysterectomy at 28 years old. Just like most of the women, she got married at 14 years old, had kids and got sterilized at 25 years old. When consulting a public doctor for stomach pain, she was prescribed medicines and rest. Once consulting a second doctor, she was told she had a tumor in her uterus, and was advised to get a surgery straight away. Although this doctor this doctor worked in a public hospital, he operated her as a private one in his own clinic and therefore charged her 35 000 rupees for the surgery. She wasn’t given any medical report after it. She payed the surgery with an advance by her mukadam, that she is still paying back.

LePictorium_0223302.jpg