Life in the slums, Kolkata

• Photographer
  Cecilia Colussi, United Kingdom

Walking in Northern Kolkata, India, I discovered the slum along the
rails. Despite the hard conditions of life, the lack of hygiene and
the extreme poverty they have to face, I encountered men, women
and children ready to welcome me with the warmest of the smiles.
I never met anybody with the same grace and dignity as these
people: belonging to the slum community, for them, means being
part of a family able to sustain them and to assure the strength
necessary to face every day’s challenges.

Originally from Padova, Italy, Cecilia received two MA’s in economics. After spending a decade working in the banking industry as an auditor, she moved from Italy to UK to pursue her passion in visual arts. She formally trained in photography, graduating in 2014 from Spéos Photographic Institute.

Growing up in the remarkably preserved medieval town of Padova, Cecilia has been breathing art since she was a child, surrounded by a quaint, though static, way of living. Thirsty of knowledge, she soon developed a genuine curiosity for everything that was far from her cultural heritage, devoting her travels to the study of anthropological aspects of diverse cultures with a focus on architecture.

Far from the celebrated landmarks, Cecilia pursues places that were built for purpose but taken over by time. She celebrates the evolved aesthetic of sites once abandoned. She captures these places in the rawness of their surrender to nature.

Cecilia currently lives in London, UK, where she works as freelance photographer.
The constantly changing urban landscape of London is a never ending source of inspiration and study for her.