Wandering into Maryam Esfahani’s new photographic series “Fracture”, there suddenly emerged this unescapable tidal wave of misery and sadness.

The work described by the artist captures the quiet childhood trauma that follows forced early marriages. For those of us in the West, this robbery of one’s choice of marriage appears rather foreign. However, the artist presents the subject with such honesty and beauty that it’s difficult for even the most casual admirer of photographic art to look away.

Esfahani began working on the series in 2017 by photographing the women whose lives were altered forever by this. Their livelihoods were stolen from them at a young age. As the artist shared with me during our conversation, these women are broken, damaged, and hurt.

You can see it in their hardened expressions, with shadows creeping in from each corner of the frame. Their mouths are taped shut, and half of their faces are cut out. One of them is so deeply shrouded in darkness that all we can make out are her hands, bound together by a rope.

Yes, broken, damaged, and hurt, but beyond repair? A better question to ask might be whether trauma can be passed down from one generation to another.

The artist chose to include a resin board in her series with women who were all forced to marry when they were just 10 years of age. The resin itself is a material that is very fragile; similar to glass, it can shatter if hit hard enough.

This delicate material serves as a metaphor for the fragility of the adult lives of these women after forced marriage.

“The women are trying to keep themselves away from the dangers of their environment,” mentioned Esfahani.

They yearn to break the cycle of abuse, not only for themselves but also for their children. To keep from breaking under the spotlight. To not allow whatever pieces they still have within themselves from breaking after years of psychological and emotional trauma. Break, break, break.

And yet, their resin-made walls of safety have already been broken for them and their offspring. The artist mentioned that after the women were photographed, they broke down crying. These women have aged, but they have not lived.

However, the most disturbing evidence that they are forever broken comes in the form of double exposure. A technique used by photographers to make it look as if one image is blending into another. This is used throughout the series as the emotionless faces of tortured women are blended into the bodies of others, in the vicinity of men whose faces are covered with white masks. One such image shows an emotionless young woman sitting in a chair as two of these mysterious masked men appear behind her, holding her by the shoulders through the technique of double exposure.

Despite the passage of time, their trauma persists and is blending into the present. The women photographed in these images are both old and young. The trauma is sadly passing from one generation to another. What makes this situation even more difficult is that they are now in the spotlight, allowing the whole world to see the pain they’ve been trying to hide for some time now.

Yet, there is something rather inspiring about the idea of revealing all your hidden scars to strangers. Perhaps a subtle attempt by these tortured women to look straight into the hell they endured and finally, finally find some needed closure.

For the artist who ventured to explore the horrors these women endured, she acknowledges that this subject matter was challenging to address. However, Esfahani’s work may influence emerging artists and photographers who seek to offer their own commentary on similar challenging subjects.

During my conversation with HCC photography professor Andrea Millette, she mentioned seeing Esfahani’s new photographic exhibit and using it as an example for her students’ final project in the expressive photography class she teaches.

While the pain endured by these women may last over time, their bravery and willingness can be forever etched in the minds of other artists like Esfahani. Trauma may pass from one generation to another, but so can the stories from those who lived through it.

Maryam Esfahani is a part-time graphic designer for the visual arts department at Houston City College. Her photographic series “Fracture” is on view at the Houston City College Central Campus Art Gallery through Friday, April 10.