TITLE: Poverty river

300 Indian rupees it is the cost of loading one full truck of stones
which were dug up from the river bed. The riverside is a source of
income for the unemployed men, women and also children. It attracts
practically anyone who is at risk of starvation.
This is hard labour which involves digging up stones, separating sand,
gravel, stones and boulders, breaking larger stones and boulders into
smaller by means of anvil and finally loading stones on the trucks.
This is a very risky occupation which results of many of the workers
suffering from poor health.
Long hours of hard labour in the heat of the Indian sun, means that
many people produces just a bowl of rice per day and a few rupees to
purchase a small amount of a cheapest wood required for the ritual
cremation of their families or themselfs so important for the Hindu
beliefs and tradition.
More then one hundred kilos of wood is required for each cremation.
Death fot Hindus in India is an expensive business and you have to earn it.
The photos were taken near Siliguri, India, 2017

AUTHOR: Wioletta Sedlak POLAND

Wioletta Sedlak (Letta Sed) graduated Chemistry at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. In 2012, she began studying Photography at the Warsaw School of Photography and Graphic Design, which gave her the opportunity to express herself through both creative photography, visual art and experimental photography, as well as helped her develop in reportage and documentary photography. In her fine-art photography she is influenced by the works of Zdzislaw Beksinski and Mark Rothko. In her reportage or documentary photography she always wants to be close to people, get to know their everyday life, their life story, their work or passions.
Sebastiao Salgado's work inspired her and encouraged her to take photography of people in their natural environment: in the place of their work and life. < BACK TO GALLERY