My life: photographs by residents

Bhadra Jaswar Sayyid Firdaus Lakshmi Devi Yogendra Mistri Indra Jaswar "Mathews bhai"

The designers chose five Arampur residents and provided each with a camera and a 24-exposure film roll. The photographers were asked to record anything about their daily lives which they chose. Once the film was developed, they wrote captions for any pictures that they wanted shown and omitted those they did not. The designers chose the photographers in an effort to demonstrate gender, religious, age, and caste diversity. However, social constraints made it difficult to provide cameras to members of poorer classes. The images are presented in the order that the photographers shot them. The descriptions are theirs, except when noted. Their self-descriptions were culled from their interviews. Although some of the photographers may have used cameras before, such use would have been limited by the relatively high cost of cameras, film and development in Arampur. Residents tend to pose formally and dress in better clothes than they would normally wear in some of the situations depicted.