Walk in the fields, or swim in the lake, watch the light slant across the skies and the colours change, keep your ears to the ground….listen. And hear people speak of their lives and loves, of joy and deep loss. Hold these emotions in a photograph, transport the reader back to the body of that place and the face of its people.
These six photo essays take you
into the heart of rural, urban and small town India. The images of a dying art
form and unending hunger in West Bengal, queer joy and resistance in Himachal
Pradesh
,
marginalised communities documenting their own experiences in
Tamil Nadu
and a folk dance with people somersaulting to drum beats in
coastal Karnataka
,
tell a myriad stories in a hugely diverse India – across landscapes, communities and
livelihoods.
The camera is a powerful tool, a source of self-reflection that is finally turned outwards, to capture injustice, and perhaps even be a path for its redressal.
The stories below will ignite a leap of the
heart or punch you in
the gut.
*****
‘My students tell their stories through photos’ by M. Palani Kumar
Holding a camera for the first time are children of sanitation workers, fisherwomen and others in classes and workshops by PARI photographer M. Palani Kumar, teacher with a camera.
*****
'Fish turned me into a good photographer' by M. Palani Kumar
A PARI photographer writes about growing up in a community of skilled lake fishermen, and their daily lives.
*****
Hunger in the belly of the beast by Ritayan Mukherjee
On August 9, International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, a profile of the Sabar Adivasi community in West Bengal. Although denotified 70 years ago, they continue to face stigma, and struggle and starve, pushed to the margins. They are heavily dependent on shrinking forests for their food and livelihood.
*****
Ma Bonbibi’s pala gaan under threat by Ritayan Mukherjee
Bonbibi pala gaan is among the many musical dramas performed by locals in the Sundarbans. Falling incomes have pushed many to migrate, leading to a dearth of artists to enact this folk theatre.
*****
In Dharmshala: marching with pride by Sweta Daga
Himachal Pradesh's first Pride march advocated for the rights of the queer community, drawing many from villages and small towns in the state.
*****
Pili vesha folk art: dancing to the beat by Nithesh Mattu
This vigorous folk dance is performed by young people in coastal Karnataka. Organised and funded locally, they are integral to festivities held around Dussehra and Janmashtami.
*****
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