One Million Image Collective

Post 27: Flower Grow Inside Dirt

2009-09-26T10:01:00.001-07:00

Two beautiful girls in the garbage collectors slum, Mansheyet Naser, Cairo, Egypt

Post 26: Mother The Next Generation

2009-09-15T14:26:00.000-07:00

Post 25: Together in it...

2009-09-15T14:12:00.001-07:00

Agra Women

Post 24: Old Egyptian Woman

2009-09-14T10:29:00.001-07:00

Woman, Old Cairo - 2009

Post 23: Lakshmi - Flower Seller, Bangalore

2008-09-23T23:50:00.000-07:00

Lakshmi was a very beautiful flower seller I met at City Market, Bangalore. Her entire family sells flowers and vegetables in the morning and then proceed to take care of other regular jobs till the end of day.

The Goddess of Wealth and Prosperity in Hindu Mythology is Lord Lakshmi

Post 22: Fisherwoman, Hoggnekal, India

2008-08-11T22:19:00.000-07:00

Post 21: Hebron, West Bank , Palestine.

2008-07-24T06:21:00.000-07:00

Living under occupation: A West Bank Story

Post 20: @ hoggnekal falls

2008-07-23T22:46:00.000-07:00

Post 19: The bride, Colombo, Srilanka

2008-06-25T20:05:00.000-07:00

Post:18 Uttandi beach, Chennai

2008-06-24T20:21:00.001-07:00

A stroll by the shore

Post 17 : Bhubaneshwar, India

2008-06-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

Name: Not known
Date Taken: May 2006
Location: Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, Eastern India.

I have realized that the best times that I spend and cherish later on is the times when I made a street child happy. It has happened many a times. This was one such occasion.

In the hot and humid conditions of Bhubaneshwar in the month of May, where staying indoors is the only wise thing to do, people still have to go out to earn bread and butter.
And many often carry their children with them. This kid was the daughter of a vendor selling juice outside the temple complex.

I could not understand one word of Oriya, and the only mode of communication was Smile.

That short period of interaction left an impression on the heart, that will stay forever.

Post 16: Bharatanatyam, Mahabalipuram

2008-06-23T22:04:00.000-07:00

Shot at the annual dance festival at Mahabalipuram, India

More on Bharathanatyam
Found this on Mahabalipuram dance festival

Post 15 - Kholoud Bidak, Cairo Egypt

2008-06-23T07:34:00.000-07:00

Post -14 -Somanthapura-Mysore, India

2008-06-22T23:45:00.000-07:00

Place: Somanthapura, Mysore

A bunch of school girls on an excursion resting under a banyan tree of somanthapura temple situated around mysore. In remote villages of India its rare that girls are let out to go to school leave alone excursion. It was nice to see these girls out there and having fun.

Post 13 - Bangalore, India

2008-06-22T03:22:00.000-07:00

Name : Akhila
Age : 10

Akhila studies in a government school in Bangalore. The government provides free education till 7th Std. Then on, students are expected to pay a very nominal fee. Akhila's parents are daily wage laborers and even a nominal fee is not affordable. Akhila likes English and wants to be an English teacher when she grows up

Post 12 : Ghaida Kabesh , Cairo

2008-06-21T05:13:00.000-07:00

Post 11-Sigriya, Srilanka

2008-06-20T20:08:00.000-07:00

Name: Vajra (Means - Diamond)
Age : 7 Yrs

This little girl didn't know any other language than Sinhalese,we started talking at the foot of the rock, we didn't talk much, we just smiled and sat together when tired, shared water and sweets, by by the time i was up 1750 steps we were friend.

I made a new friend on top of Sigirya rock.

Post 10 - Guwahati, India

2008-06-18T09:07:00.000-07:00

Name : Rashmi,
Location: Guwahati , Assam, India
Occupation: Aspiring model.
Photographer: Kshitiz Anand

Taken Date: March 2005

Shot taken at an island in the Brahmaputra River, for Fashion Designer Prassant Ghosh.

An inspiration to the numerous models in the area, Rashmi has been a symbol of hard work. Started her career with doing shows at college festivals and then moved on to professional shows while still at college. When this shot was taken, she was an essential part in the troup of Prassant Ghosh.

Post 9 - Bombay - India

2008-06-15T23:46:00.001-07:00

Post 8 : Those days

2008-06-12T23:10:00.000-07:00

Reminds me of childhood, school , easy carefree life.

Name - don't know
Age - About 10
Place where the photo was taken - Shiridi, Maharashtra

Post 7 : Streets of Northern Cementary, Cairo

2008-06-12T09:06:00.000-07:00

Post 6: By the Church of Abu Serga

2008-06-12T06:32:00.000-07:00

Church of Abu Serga is tucked quietly inside old Cairo. Old Cairo is the oldest part of Cairo, and in fact, pre-dates what is now Cairo. Unlike the noise and the general chaos of Islamic Cairo , this part of the town was clam and rustic.

Chruch Abu Serga which legend has it is built atop one of the sites where the Holy Family (Jesus et all)rested on their flight from Herod.

After arriving 45 minutes after the church closed I had nothing better to do than wander. The last of the tourist had left and the place was near empty , but for a few Japanese tourists who came after the church closed. The caretaker saw me wandering around and told me that the church was closed for the day and I should come back tomorrow.

The beautiful women photographed here is the keeper and care taker of the Church. She sits in her small room just opposite to the church entrance and spends most of her time helping people who come looking for Abu Serga. Her wall has images of Jesus , Marry and Luke painted in coptic art and her little room has a table were two of her friends sit and give her company.

She asked me if I was Egyptian (Inti Masr?)and when I said no (la) - then India came up and I graciously nodded. She asked me if I was Coptic. I still haven't found the right Arabic word for atheist and It is hard to explain to some one that I was born in a liberal Hindu household and then renounced religion. (Blasphemy!!!)

The word that comes close is kafir meaning "rejecter". It refers to a person who does not recognize God (Allah) or the prophethood of Muhammed (i.e., any non-Muslim). Kafir translates to infidel in English. I wasn't sure if I said Kafir that would sit well with a Coptic care taker. Though all Coptic Christians speak Arabic , I wasn't sure to what extent they used words that had a strong Islamic doctrinal undertone. Saying kafir was surely out of the question. Then she quickly asked if I was Muslim - I shook my head vehemently. Buddhist maybe ? Then I finally gave up and said yes when asked if I was Jewish.

Then she showed me her tattooed wrist , a reaffirmation of her Coptic faith. There can be a lot of things lost in translation when two people communicate using borrowed words from a language that is alien to them. Yet it is not the language that communicates, but a willingness for a dialogue. Since the moment I saw her, all I could think was how beautiful she was and how there was something about her face that was so familiar and warm. I politely asked if I could photograph her and she agreed.

I said my goodbyes and she reminded me to come back another day when the church was open. "Your Jewish - come back for Ben Ezra", were her parting words for me.

Post 5: Mary

2008-06-11T23:23:00.000-07:00

Name : - Mary

Age: - She doesn't remember

Nationality: - Indian

Place the photograph was shot: Chennai , India DATE: May, 2008

Mary is one of the house keepers in Dakshin chitra. Its an art gallery which showcases south Indian traditions and folk art .

She takes care of the Hindu house and is responsible for cleaning, polishing and maintaining the house. One of the activities of this house is Rangoli and Mary draws beautiful designs on the floor, the white powder on black flooring looks beautiful. She lives close to the art gallery and lives all alone.

Post 4 : Qian Huang

2008-06-11T20:01:00.000-07:00

Name: Qian Huang
Occupation: Student
Place of Birth: Guizhou, China
Nationality: Chinese
Education: Masters Student in United States
Image Shot in : Bloomington, Indiana
Photographer: Kshitiz Anand

Hailing from a country like China, with the immense population, its not surprising that Human emotions inspire her the most. She loves to hear stories and learn about other cultures. She is also proud of her culture and loves to talk about it. A stylish person with a good sense of fashion. Is really fond of shopping and would not mind going the extra mile to get a thing of desire.

Her aims in life are simple. Have a happy family and settle somewhere like California, somewhere with beautiful sky and hopefully without winter. This one can understand from her liking of Nature.
One of her goals when she starts earning is travel around for a month every year.
But before that, find a good job in Interaction Design in the United States.

A very good cook, she also likes hiking, swimming, playing pool, bowling. A quiet person to start off with, but a very friendly person once one gets to know her.

Post 3 : Zolani Mahola

2008-06-09T00:51:00.000-07:00

NAME: Zolani Mahola
PROFESSION: singer , song writer, lyricist, performer
CITY OF BIRTH: Eastern Cape Province of South Africa where she grew up near the city of Port Elizabeth
NATIONALITY: South African
EDUCATION: Drama at University of Cape Town
IMAGE SHOT IN: Cairo , Egypt

The Spring Festival organized by Al Mawred Al Thaqafy, in co-operation with Cairo Opera House, Sakiat Al Sawy, the Arts Centre of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Egyptian Centre for Arts and Culture (Makan) and the British Council, presents a wide range of the most important modern Arabic creative experiences in music and poetry. The Spring festival features a series of musical performances , art and literature workshops both in Cairo and Beirut. The festival this year commemorates the Palestine's 60th anniversary of the Nakba.

So on a sightly cold Friday evening along with a few friends I headed to the Al- Azar park to listen to a little known South African band performing as a part of the festival.

Lights !! The musicians step on stage and it only takes everyone present a few minute to realise that this was going to be one explosive performance. The bands lead singer Zolani Mahola moved the audience with her incredible voice , passion , energy and wit.

Zo , grew up in Eastern Cape , in a South African household were music and rhythm were stable diets.

She is no Beyonce , only she is better - with velvet voice and a rare magnetism - she is by far one of the most beautiful women I have seen. When singing her song Pot Belly she pointed to her own full figure, little tummy and said I like it this way. Then she starts singing ...

Even though I have fat thighs flabby arms a pot belly ... still gives me good

After an overdose of skinny untalented - half naked women on music channels - It was high time the Music market made way for truly remarkable women singers whose only asset is her larynx and spirit. I cant remember the last live performance that left such a deep impact on me.

Salute !

Post 2 - Bhavna Pandya Barrat

2008-06-06T06:07:00.000-07:00

NAME: Bhavna Pandya Barratt
AGE: 27
NATIONALITY: Tanzanian
LANGUAGES: English , Gujarati , Swahili , Hindi
PLACE OF BIRTH:
STATUS: Married
LIVES IN: York , United Kingdom

Bhavna Pandya was born in Tanzania , to Tanzanian parents of Indian origin. Her parents Ashwin Pandya and Mamta Pandya were both British subjects till 1964 when Tanzania became independent. She calls her self African and yet is torn by the conflict and politics of colour that makes the world not call her African.

She is what I would call a product of history. She is an embodiment of the colonial history that took Indians beyond the borders of British Raj. She is a women who comes from a unique history of being a person of Indian origin in East Africa. A women who has an African soul and an Indian heart.

She is also a product of first class British education. In addition to the million other roles she owns, she is photographer , writer and a story teller. She is a woman who is passionate about life and love. In July 2007 , Bhavna Pandya married the love of her life Thomas Barratt, who she meet while studying in England. Today she is Bhavana Pandya Barratt and lives in York.

Read Bhavana Article " I am African" at BHF magazine here.

Post 1 - Butterfly mounted in a glass case

2008-06-05T01:23:00.000-07:00

NAME : -
AGE: -
NATIONALITY: -
PLACE THE PHOTOGRAPH WAS SHOT: Barcelona , Spain
DATE: April, 2006

Preface: A Labour of Love

2008-06-04T09:56:00.001-07:00

I took the Helwan line from Sadat Metro. I had no destination, just an urge to leave the familiar. Ever so often I get this itch to leave , abandon everything known to me and become invisible speck. Let my mind wander and go to corners of my conscious I had previously left behind. I revisit moments , experiences and reconstruct them in my head. I think of stories and try to write a little in my head. Then the blurred faces start getting real , I look for external signs - clothes, face , wrinkles , smiles . Almost any thing that will reveal a story, give me a little voyeuristic opening. Then I slip back into my trance and a bit of consciousness surfaces every now and then.

The idea of One million image collective has been with me for a very long time, but it is in Cairo that it has crystallised into something tangible. I always wanted to compile a scrap book of images , words and anecdotes of all the people I had meet. I started carrying a notebook when I was 16, to take notes for the same. I have filled 3 books and still continue to records my thoughts in a very chaotic fashion.

But over the years my exercise in recording life became an extended act called habit. I never got around to reorganising my thoughts or putting together that scrapbook. My recording remained in a realm of incompleteness, they are I believed a work in progress.

Living in Cairo started eroding some of that inertia. Cairo was the most familiar stranger I had encountered, the city began to get under my skin and. What I wrote and how I photographed my subjects began to change. I realised I had grown out of the need to capture the decisive moment. I was done trying to photograph that single greatest image that would emotionally full fill me. I wanted instead to become a better story teller. I wanted my images to have a narrative , which would serve the purpose of recording time and in a small fraction become a foot note in history.

I was now photographing to preserve the collective memory. It was then that I decided that I would record with more articulation and discipline. My most interesting subject of study became the women in Egypt and in trying to understand them , I realised that it wasn't just the women of Egypt who had this characteristic. Women around the world are fascinating subjects of study. They are complex creatures , with layers so entrenched it is hard to figure out where one ends and the other begins.

One million Image collective is my social experiment, reflection and meditation. It is also collaborative . My effort to create an open , liberal platform for dialogue free of cultural or intellectual hegemony for discussion about women and their stories. The content here is not moderated or restricted. The photographer and writers who are a part of this project are free to present their stories in the form they deem fit.

Let the rhetoric begin.

- Suchitra -
CAIRO, 4th June 2008