I have a t-shirt with the letters OMAK on the front. It was given to me by a friend because I liked the design. The meaning of the letters was unimportant to me. Which is a good thing since even my friend is not certain. He did recall the OM meaning something like ‘observe merit’. I bring up this shirt because when I photograph a girl like Kirsten Diatta, it is hard not to recognize the merit of her character. The young women in my photographs are bold. Aside from giving their trust to a stranger, they are putting themselves out there for all to scrutinize. In a society that is quick to slut-shame and impose double standards on women’s sexuality, that takes balls. Zishy will always be home to beautiful women with balls.
