Monique spent time with a transgender community in southern India, near Bengaluru. Overcoming the initial hurdles as an outsider, Monique gained their trust and was accepted by the community. These portraits evoke the beauty and pride they maintain despite the many challenges they endure day-to-day.

Monique Relova has developed her talents and skills to transcend to the realm of seeker…shedder…and sharer of light. In the corners of the earth where the darkness of ignorance, neglect, hatred, cruelty and indifference have permeated, her portraits have managed to open eyes, illuminate minds and inspire hearts. They tell stories, both simple and profound.They elicit emotion, sincere and powerful. They find beauty in the mundane and imperfect.

With her camera as her candle, her Bachelor’s degree in Photography and experience in documentary, photojournalism, fashion, and high-tech photography as the spark that ignited it and the world as her backdrop, it is delightful to discover that Monique’s images are always instinctive, evocative and distinctive. Even if they sometimes feature the most scant conditions, they are rich; even if they are often in black and white, they are brilliant and colourful; and even if they are technically still-images, they are moving, living and stunning! Viewing Monique’s work is to witness…incandescence!