Tamil Nadu Teens Gapto Indian Workers in Images

An elderly woman looks sadly, her hands curled over the tobacco basket surrounded by hundreds of cigarettes she spent for hours, rolling by hand.

The photo is one of the few, taken by the student of Rashmi in their village in Tamil Nadu, which involves neighbors who make traditional Indian cigarettes called Beedis.

“Nobody knows about their work. Their countless stories need to be told,” Rashmit BBC said.

Her pictures were presented at a recent exhibition about India’s workers called “Invisible Perspective” at the Egmora Museum in Chennai.

All photos were taken by 40 students from state schools Tamil Nadu, who recorded the life of their own parents or other adults.

From career workers to Tkachev, welders to the Kravtsi, the images emphasize the diverse, dominated work, which is carried out by approximately 400 million workers in India.

For example, many rollers are vulnerable to damage to the lungs and tuberculosis because of their dangerous work, Rashmit said.

“Their tobacco ladies, you can’t stay there for a long time,” she said, adding that her neighbors were sitting near her houses for hours, rolling Beedis.

For every 1000 cigarettes they roll, they earn only 250 rupees ($ 2.90; 2.20 lb), she said BBC.

In the area of ​​the Enod, Jaradzh photographed the photo of her mother Podianiamiya at work as a brick manufacturer. It is seen as the clay and sand mixture is poured into shapes and forming bricks by hand.

Jajara had to wake up at 2 am to take a picture because his mother was starting to work in the night.

“She must start early to avoid afternoon,” he said.

And only when he started his photographic project, did he really understand the difficulties she had to survive.

“My mother often complains of headaches, leg pain, thigh pain and sometimes consciousness,” he said.

In Madurai Gopik Lakshmi, he seized his father Mutkrishna, selling goods from an old minibus.

Her father should receive dialysis twice a week after he lost the kidney two years ago.

“He goes to nearby villages to sell goods despite dialysis,” Lakshmi says.

“We have no luxury rest at home.”

But despite his serious condition, her father “looked like a hero” when he continued his exhausted daily regime, Gopika said.

It was not easy to photograph with a professional camera, but after months of training with experts it became easier, students said.

“I learned how to shoot at night, set up shutter and diaphragm speed,” said Cyiredri, who lives in the Metcassy area.

For his project, Keerthi decided to record his mother’s daily life, which owns a small shop in front of their home.

“Dad is not so, so Mom looked after the store and the house,” she said. “She wakes up at 4 am and works until 11pm.”

Her photos depicts a mother’s struggle when she travels long distances through public buses to the original goods for her store.

“I wanted to show photos what a woman is doing to improve her children’s lives,” she said.

Mukesh spent four days with his father, documenting his career work.

“My father stays here and returns home only once a week,” he said.

Mukech’s father works from 3am to noon, and after a short holiday from 15:00 to 19:00. It earns a scanty amount About 500 rupees a day.

“There are no beds and mattresses in their room. My father is sleeping on empty cardboard boxes,” he said. “Last year, he survived the sunburn because he worked under the hot sun.”

Students between the ages of 13 and 17 study different forms of art, including photography, within the framework of the School Education Department Tamil Nadu.

“The idea is to make students socially responsible,” said the Kalaivizi Muthem, the State Floor Development Program in public schools Tamil Nado and the founder of the Nerag Neeelam Fund.

“They recorded workers around them. Understanding their lives is the beginning of social changes,” he added.

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