Photo workshops in India
Two workshops took place in India, one in the major city of Kolkata and one in the rural areas around Midnapore to the South West of Kolkata, both in the province of West Bengal.
The children who took part have all had some experience of child domestic work.
The workshops were organized and arranged through collaboration between Save the Children UK’s office in India and local community based organisations Right Track (in Kolkata), and Jay Prakash Institute for Social Change (JPISC in Midnapore). They were facilitated primarily by Drik India, an organisation using photography for social change.
Kolkata
Kolkata is the capital of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal and has a population of almost 5 million making it the fourth-largest city in India. Mominpore is a typical urban area of Kolkata and is where Right Track is based, and where the workshop took place.
The workshop routine went through a cycle of teaching, trying out and reflecting. It also encouraged interaction amongst the children, asking them to select each others’ best pictures and say why they had picked them.
Whilst some of the Eye to Eye children have been helped out of domestic work, many of them had to continue working during the running of the workshop. As Eye to Eye had anticipated, there were some difficulties in child domestic workers taking pictures and in attending the workshop for the whole of its duration, but despite this challenge there was a very low level of drop out, because the level of commitment and enthusiasm from the participants was so high.
As one participant put it: “I liked this opportunity to take pictures for the first time very much and I want to take better pictures. We had maximum fun with the camera in our hands” (Rupa Bag, 17). The children took pictures of things they enjoyed and were proud of, giving them a dignity that for many is not associated with domestic work.
Midnapore
Midnapore is a city outside Kolkata on a popular trade route, and acts as a ‘source’ region for child domestic workers going to work in Kolkata.
The workshop was very interactive, allowing the children to participate as much as possible by encouraging questions and sharing their views. “Their urge to do something worthy with the camera has been tapped and this excited group is very eager to click away images,” wrote the workshop leader in his journal.
Overall there were few problems, despite the rainy season: “After the second day Mamata, Rebati, Bulti and Alpana could not manage to reach the deadline. Well, there was the reason for that - it was a raining for 48 hours!” explained the Drik workshop leader.
Some older participants, were able to reflect even more on the process of taking photos and the meaning attached to it: “Anything new attracts me and that’s why I am very happy to come for the photography classes. We can store a slice of time through photography, which is not to be discarded just like that. Hence in a few seconds we can capture the things we like and preserve the memories. There is no end to learning, and these are small steps to learning new things.” (Jaya Mondal, 16, Kolkata)
This project is funded by the European Union