Children of untitled migrants learn to pick plastics with resale value from an early age and they lose their childhood to the landfill. Bhalaswa Landfill of Delhi is their playground, school and work place. In the photograph, the unconcerned child, unruffled by the dangers walks confidently over burning garbage. Growing up he has seen a burning landfill throw toxic fumes every summer. This year is different, the landfill has been burning for 3 months episodically due to trapped methane in the landfill site and severe heat wave in Delhi and temperatures soaring to 118 deg. Fahrenheit.
I am a self-taught photo artist from Delhi, India who blurs the lines between documentary and art photography. Exploring themes from architectural heritage to landscape and environment conservation, my work focuses on color, line and form to make an emotional connection with the viewer. Having specialized in garbage treatment processes in the past, I now use my photographic practice as a way to have a more immediate impact on conservation efforts. My environmental photographs focus on landscapes impacted by human activity.
Awards My work has been recognized in India and abroad. 'Mining and Its Afterlives in Goa, India' was shortlisted for the Chennai Photo Biennale 2022 Iyarkai Grant and the series, 'Growing up on landfills of Delhi' was shortlisted for Hossein Farmani's 'State of the World' Paris Photo Prize (PX3). I received a Bronze award and honorable mentions from the Budapest International Foto Awards 22 and Indian Photo Festival 2022. In 2021 and 2022, I was shortlisted in the Sienna Drone Awards. I was commissioned by the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC) India,for a photo project on their climate change mitigation program on low-carbon cement made from mining waste, that was exhibited in 2022 and 2023. I am the participating artist in 'Photo Kadai: Female Artists' Edition', an online print sale hosted by Chennai Photo Biennale.
Published Articles and Photographs:
- Photo essay, 'Reimagined: Our relationship with the Khazans of Goa' published in Environment Section of March-April 2023 Issue No. 21 of Revista da Casa de Goa, a Portuguese bimonthly magazine
-'Holy Spirit', a photograph from my body of work on Churches of Goa selected to be the cover photograph of Issue No. 21 of Revista da Casa de Goa, a Portuguese bimonthly magazine.
- Contributing Photo Artist to March-April 2023 Issue No. 21 of Revista da Casa de Goa, a Portuguese bimonthly magazine.
- Contributing Photo Artist to Jan-Feb 2023 Issue No. 20 of Revista da Casa de Goa, a Portuguese bimonthly magazine.
- June 14, 2021 The Quint, Citizen Journalism, Water Crisis, Loss of Livelihood for Villages in Goa's Mining Belt, https://www.thequint.com/my-report/goa-mining-iron-manganese-environmental-destruction-deforestation-climate-change
