Sleepers

Walking the streets in a town or city in India is impossible without noticing all the homeless people that live their lives camped on the pavements. By taking these pictures I'm not portraying their poverty as something beautiful or romantic but as a daily reality we avert our eyes from automatically. This reminds me of a time when I was a student and I asked an old woman if I could take her photograph. Her face was so wrinkled I was fascinated and felt the portrait would be beautiful. She agreed and then said (in Gujarati): "You're taking my picture because I'm poor, aren't you. You're only taking my picture because I'm poor. My feet are so dirty, that's why you want to take my picture." I was so surprised I ran away as fast as I could, I couldn't even muster up the courage to protest.