My Altruistic Half.

Growing up with working parents, my sister was my caregiver. I have always been influenced by the women in my life and how selflessly they nurture the ones around them. Every time my sister and I are not doing anything, we are doing so much- being together yet giving enough personal space. As the younger one, I’ve always looked up to her- in awe, in admiration, in amazement, in respect; in turn, wanting to dress up just like her or making similar hairstyle, as a kid. What started with her hand-me-downs later took names of inheritance.

I have used a mirror for the simple portrayal of our inside joke of being each other’s lateral inversion. The mirror also shows how every woman is alike sharing a sense of sacrifice, just living in different bodies and

how this has affected my understanding of being a woman- what I see, I must become. My sister and I, with contrasting personalities and antipodal ideologies, are both old-school. The story revolves around the same feeling. It shows our shared moments of leisure in routine life and reflects the coexistence of our similarities and differences. My Altruistic Half is a personal narrative of our casual living uncensored and unsophisticated, where my sister tends to me in so many little ways and even bears with my leg on her while sleeping. Personally, I absolutely love moments that are only shared between girls. There’s something very special about it. In a group of girlfriends or among sisters, this is very common and we hardly notice the essence of it. But when we do, it’s so liberating and I am too grateful to have witnessed and be a part of it. I don’t know if telepathy works, but in our relationship, we hardly have to say/ask for things; the bond is indescribable. I believe, she is my light at the end of the tunnel and all my silver linings, and it would be naive of me to say otherwise.

These pictures can be seen more metaphorically than literally.

This story is a part of our new series: Artist Speakeasy. Through this series, we encourage artists to write about their work with full freedom, and with no editorial influence.

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Text and Photos by Manu Dubey.