BeyondHeadlines News Desk
New Delhi: To raise awareness about the impact of lack of access to clean water on millions of people across the country, WaterAid India launched ‘The WASH Photo Project’ exhibition at DLF Promenade in the Capital recently.
The WASH Photo Project exhibition showcases the current reality of water – the crises and the solutions — through the lens of visual narratives captured by seven amateur documentary photographers under the guidance of an esteemed mentor panel: , Photographer & Installation Artist Samar Singh Jodha, Documentary Photographer Prashanth Vishwanathan and Photographer Paroma Mukherjee.
With an intent to document strong visual narratives in urban and rural communities on the reality of water, WaterAid India launched its first ever documentary photography fellowship ‘The WASH Photo Project’ in July 2018. The aim of the fellowship was to encourage amateur documentary photographers to explore visual narratives around the themes of water, sanitation and hygiene in India – the three essentials for a decent life. The fellows have documented stories from remote rural locations like Gaya, Kanker and Alairajpur to issues faced in the heart of urban settlements like Delhi and Hyderabad.
With 600 million people facing high to extreme water stress and around 2,00,000 people dying every year due to inadequate access to safe water, India is suffering from ‘the worst ever water crises’ in its history. Given the severity of the water crisis, this year’s theme for the fellowship was water thus aiming to widen the fellows’ understanding on how access to clean water has a positive impact on an individual’s life, and how the lack of it can lead to unimaginable circumstances.
Nanditta Chibber, Head – Media & Communications at WaterAid India, said: “As the WASH Photo Project 2018 culminates with the work of the fellows at this exhibition — their journey exploring, learning and documenting the reality of water from far flung and hard to reach rural areas to discovering the water crisis in urban settlements across the length and breadth of the country has been most fulfilling and fascinating. The fellows have gone beyond their comfort zone to document some hard-hitting stories around access to water, how the lack of it affects women, the severe health implications of contaminants in water to realising that the reach of clean water is not equal for everyone, something which most of us who’ll see it at DLF Promenade Mall take for granted.
The fellowship was intended to introduce young photographers to the theme of water and handhold them as they document many facets of it. Under the guidance of Samar, Prashanth and Paroma, they all have done a brilliant job at capturing visual narratives. Their work encourages everyone who sees them to start conversations on water – that despite being one of the most essential elements for sustenance of life, how clean water is still a scarce resource and how millions of people struggle to access it every day.
Taking the opportunity of World Water Day, we at WaterAid India hope that we are able to start a conversation to value water more amongst everyone, especially young people through this exhibition.”
