Mumbai is full of people who make their living on the street. We see them and yet we don't; they often live lives isolated from our reality. Photographer David de Souza and his dream analyst wife Charmayne D' Souza attempt to photo-document their story
Mumbai is full of people who make their living on the street. We see them and yet we don't; they often live lives isolated from our reality. Photographer David de Souza and his dream analyst wife Charmayne D' Souza attempt to photo-document their story
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WE SEE them yet they don't register. Everyday they pass right before our eyes but we don't know them. David de Souza and his wife Charmayne D'Souza have tried to give these very people an identity. As they get set to launch their book Itinerants Mumbai's Nomads, a compilation of photographs by David and verse by Charmayne, they narrate the story behind it.
The idea of photographing those who make their living on the street came to the husband-wife team when they saw them right outside their window. David says that 80 per cent of his subjects were outside his building at Churchgate. He would run down to them, show a few of his previous works and that's all it would take to convince them to pose. But David did take them out of their natural environment and shoot them in a studio setting.
He reasons, "The other elements would dilute their personality. It is not an account of their life. The photos capture what has transpired in the five minutes, half an hour that they were in the studio." Charmayne says there is much we don't know about them and yet they serve the city. People would rather go to the ear cleaner behind Mantralaya than wait forever at the ENT specialist's office. The passiveness of the city, as a backdrop allows them to be active.
Not one of the subjects asked for compensation. "They were just happy that someone took the trouble of recognising them," says David. Still, David and Charmayne did give them money for their time. David says their spirit, providence and faith in Bhagwan was common to all of them.
Itinerants Mumbai's Nomads is being released today at David Sassoon Library at 9:15 pm as part of the Kala Ghoda Festival. The book is available for Rs 1,700 at the festival. If you can't make it to the fest, book your copy (Rs 1,900) by emailing david@daviddesouza.com
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