Raghu Rai captures sad scavengers on camera
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The great Indian photo-journalist Raghu Rai, commissioned by the British architect John McAslan, has produced an extraordinary portrayal of the lives of the kabaris – waste-pickers who comb through and recycle thousands of tons of waste dumped daily on Delhi's biggest landfill site, Ghazipur.
McAslan, who is working on projects in India, encountered the kabaris after meeting Bharati Chaturvedi, who leads the Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group. Chaturvedi is raising consciousness about the urgent need for better organised waste recycling that, ultimately, will not involve children.
The kabaris of Ghazipur are a unique community of more than 1,100 people, entirely dependent on recycling for a living. Of the 690 children living in the Ghazipur landfill community in 2011, an estimated 179 worked as kabaris, and 221 attended school.
Rai's compassionate portraits reveal the ostensibly unremarkable details of the lives of the kabaris: glimpses of effort and dignity, flashes of ebullience and gaiety, rigours of survival flickering with vividly expressed energies in a profoundly squalid landscape subject to dioxin leaching and sudden methane explosions.
Nineteen of Raghu Rai's Ghazipur photographs will be auctioned after being exhibited in London to raise money for Chintan's initiative.
Raghu Rai, JMP Gallery, London NW1 ( www.mcaslan.co.uk/exhibitions) to 30 September
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments