A photography project to explore the lives of waste workers living in wastelands. Some of these shots were exhibited at an exhibition in Museo Camera, Gurgaon.
Waste workers are usually taken to be low-grade or incapable of complicated jobs. But understanding the process of waste collection and processing made me realise that these workers are doing something that we never thought was possible. The things that we consider waste and discard is what they use to make something that can be meaningful and useful again. They have the ability to create meaning out of what we consider meaningless.
This was one of my favourite shots in this entire series. Interacting with these kids at the waste lands was one of my favourite parts of this experience. Watching them play and live joyfully in those circumstances was very inspiring for me.
Thinking and talking about the waste processing cycle got me to relate this entire journey that the waste takes to the wheel of the cycle that’s used to carry this waste.
Visiting the waste segregation sites and talking to the people there made me think about how the lives of the workers revolve around waste and the wastelands. Whether we talk about their livelihood, their homes, their families or their income, it's all associated with the waste. It almost seems like their lives are 'painted' in waste. This abstraction is what made me take this shot.
Plastic bottles are all around us, whether it's in the form of a bottle of water or a soft drink bottle. But we never give a second thought before we buy them to quench our thirst. Watching thousands of these bottles accumulated at one spot because of the waste collection process made me personify this picture to an ocean of plastic.
