The Narikuravar people of Tamil Nadu

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  Steff Gruber, Switzerland

In India’s southernmost state of Tamil Nadu, the settlement of Poonjeri is home to around 40 Narikuravar families. They belong to a semi-nomadic community of around 30,000 people that are spead across the state. Historically, their main source of livelihood was hunting. They were long considered “untouchables” and continue to be marginalized to this day. The Narikuravar, who are portrayed here, live today in small stone houses built for them by various organizations after a tsunami destroyed the community’s settlement a couple of miles away in 2004.