It’s hard not to be moved by images in the exhibit “Beloved Daughters: Photographs by Fazal Sheikh,” which opened Thursday night at Davidson College’s Belk Visual Arts Center Van Every/Smith Galleries. This show is unlike others seen here recently, and you could sense it Thursday night. Davidson gallery director Brad Thomas noted that there was a “very different energy” – quieter and more thoughtful – from other gallery openings he has been involved in.

That’s because Mr. Sheikh is an activist as well as a photographer, using his art to focus attention on exiles, refugees, people who endure prejudice, abuse and worse. The photographs and text in this show, from Mr. Sheikh’s two most recent books Moksha and Ladli, examine the sometimes violent and tragic lives of women and girls in India.

The women whose stories are told here are mistreated and unvalued by their own families and communities. Through his sober, yet riveting black-and-white portraits and accompanying text, it is hard not to make these women our “beloved daughters.”

Mr. Sheikh is a New York City native, born in 1965 to an American mother and a Kenyan father of Indian descent. For many years he has documented the existence of people displaced from conflicts in Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Mozambique and Rwanda.

He says his work not only introduces these people and documents their lives, but forces viewers to confront the issues they face.

“I think the photographs do some things extremely well. They set the stage, they invite the viewer, they entice the viewer perhaps,” he said in a radio interview Thursday on WFAE-FM. “But I’m not one who believes a photograph can do everything. I found that the situation I was documenting required some kind of broader contextualization of the story.”

DOCUMENTING PREJUDICE

In Moksha (“Heaven”), he introduces the widows who, unwanted in their homes and villages, move to the holy city of Vrindavan to pray, beg and live out their lives. In Ladli (“Beloved Daughter”) we meet women and girls devastated by Indian society’s prejudices against their gender.

Online editions of the two books are available on Mr. Sheikh’s website. He has been supported in part by grants and awards – including a MacArthur Foundation “genius award” and a Henri Cartier-Bresson International Award – that allow him to share his work widely. But these photographs and their stories are worth seeing up close in the Davidson exhibit.

While the photos and text had gallery-goers in a thoughtful mood at Thursday’s opening, a performance of Indian vocal music by Mallika Akella gave us all a bit of space for further contemplation. Ms. Akella sang two pieces – to accompany both themes of Mr. Sheikh’s exhibit. (See video below)

Have you seen the show? Share your thoughts below and join in a conversation about Mr. Sheikh’s work.

LOOK AND LISTEN

See Mr. Sheikh’s photos and read the books online on his website, www.fazalsheikh.org

Listen to a conversation with Mr. Sheikh on WFAE-FM’s “Charlotte Talks” radio program, recorded Thursday, Oct. 16. CLICK HERE>

Visit the exhibit, which runs through Dec. 10 at Davidson College Van Every/Smith Galleries, Belk Visual Art Center, Main and Griffith streets. Hours: Weekdays: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. & Weekends: 12 p.m. – 4 p.m. Details on the college website.