Roki Girl
Treviso, Italy Summer 2016
Roki girls have the Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, a congenital disorder that occurs in females and mainly affects the reproductive system.
Only 1 every 5,000 female babies has this condition, that causes the vagina and uterus to be underdeveloped or absent, several abnormalities in other parts of the body, anxiety and extreme psychological distress
A Roki girl is unable to carry a pregnancy or have a normal sexual life.
Because females with MRKH syndrome do not have a functional uterus, they cannot bear children (infertile). However, some affected women have been able to have a child by using in vitro fertilization of their own eggs and surrogate pregnancy after a vaginoplasty.
Unfortunately in Italy Roki girls don’t have this chance.
Chiara got a plastic surgery 4 years ago nevertheless She considers her life purposeless.
This is a personal project I felt mine since the first time I met Chiara because her generous curves and her heavy secret reminded me to Modigliani’s models.
I thought I wanted to portrait her different melancholic beauty and her innocence supporting her and the other Roki women because most of the people or general practitioners don’t know this condition.
I wish I will be able to develop this small project into a bigger one in which I will meet, listen and portrait other Roki girls.