These radiant portraits show women as they want to be seen

At a Ugandan center for women with special needs, a photographer asked her subjects how they wished to be depicted: Capable, equal, and intelligent, they told her.

Picture of smiling young woman in red dress.
Ugandans such as Nancy Ayaa, who was born with a cognitive impairment, visit the Gulu Women With Disabilities Union to learn new skills, make friends, and—on occasion—pose as models.
ByNina Strochlic
Photographs byEsther Ruth Mbabazi
December 1, 2022
6 min read

For several years, “fly on the wall” was Esther Ruth Mbabazi’s approach to photography. Be invisible. Don’t influence the scene. Then, in 2019, the 28-year-old Ugandan had an opportunity to do just the opposite.

Picture of woman in bright yellow dress sitting under crochets.
At the age of four, Florence Akwede lost her ability to talk and hear. She takes great interest in getting to know people, and her children help her interact with others by using sign language.
Picture of woman in red dress and white walking cane.
Picture of woman in blue dress and hairband.
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Picture of woman with prosthetic leg.
Irene Odwar Laker lost her leg at age 16 after she stepped on a land mine while trying to escape rebels with the Lord’s Resistance Army. Today she supports her two children through income earned from knitting, running a small shop, and plaiting hair.

That’s when Mbabazi learned of the Gulu Women With Disabilities Union, a vocational and social center in a small city in Uganda’s north. Over one year, she made four trips to Gulu and photographed women she met, including a land mine survivor missing a leg, a deaf mother of four, and a blind musician. They posed in custom dresses, created by a Kampala-based designer, against backdrops of art and handiwork they had made. When Mbabazi asked the women how they wanted to be seen, they told her: as capable, equal, intelligent. In other words, accorded the dignity that Ugandans with special needs often are denied.

Picture of smiling woman in the dress with intricate geometrical pattern.
A bout of childhood malaria left Miriam Apio with impaired cognitive abilities, and she has battled depression. Apio discovered a sense of purpose through knitting sweaters for the community in a project run by the union.
Picture of young woman with crutches.
Since age five, Flavia Lanyero has endured 11 surgeries for an infection that attacks her leg and arm bones. Though she fears her condition will keep her out of the job market, she studies banking with the hope of finding employment.
In her free time, Lanyero enjoys music, pottery, and painting. She made this painting to represent both her struggles with physical challenges and her will to fight for equal treatment.

On her last trip to Gulu, Mbabazi delivered large, framed copies of the portraits to those who posed for them. Mbabazi hopes the photos will be exhibited publicly, to help change how the women are seen, and treated, by others.

Picture of woman in yellow dress.
Interacting with the world can be hard for Akwede, who has impaired communication skills. The inclusive community at the Gulu Women With Disabilities Union has been an effective antidote.
Picture of woman on red-white-blue tapestry on the wall behind her.
Apio, who has similar challenges, says she’s often left out of activities she’d like to join, but she's also found camaraderie with the union members.
Picture of portrait on woman in hairband.
Auma credits the union with supporting her after the birth of her two children, when she felt hospital care was poor.
Picture of young woman modeling her red dress.
When Ayaa is not earning a living by doing laundry, she spends her days knitting with friends at the union.
Picture of young woman with photo camera chatting with woman in red dress.
Mbabazi, at left, chats with Ayaa in front of the makeshift photo studio in Gulu, Uganda.
The National Geographic Society has funded the work of photographer Esther Ruth Mbabazi since 2019. Learn more about its support of Explorers at natgeo.com/impact.

This story appears in the January 2023 issue of National Geographic magazine.