Inequality through my lens

Inequality through my lens

  • Others
  • by Mallika Singhee
  • 16 Jan, 2019

Mallika Singhee is a freelance photographer whose work oscillates between event photography and photojournalism. She has studied photography at the New York Film Academy and lives in Kolkata, India. Her latest project for Oxfam India's Inequality Photo Series aims to give the viewer access to the lives of two women who are seemingly similar in a lot of ways (gender, age, marital status, etc) but lead dramatically different lives owing to income inequality.

This project reflects the glaring economic disparity between two women who I have chosen to be the subject of this photo essay. The subjects reside in Kolkata, West Bengal. One is 26-years-old, married with no children, she is a domestic help and lives in a shared quarter with 3 other women. The other is 28-years-old, married with no children. She is a Director of her family business and lives in an upscale penthouse apartment in the same city. Through the juxtaposition of images that include them, their personal belongings and their immediate environment, I aim to highlight the striking contrast in the lives that they lead. 

Both these women belong to the same age group, are married and working. Yet inequalities in access to resources like quality education, health, and wealth security have forced one to live a life devoid of opportunities and equal growth.

The use of portraiture, both singular and environmental, and flatlays has been implemented to bring forth this inequality. The project has been presented in the form of diptychs to strongly establish a comparison. 

income inequality in india

 

glaring inequalities lead to poverty and hunger crisis

 

 

The continued rise of economic inequality in India – and around the world – is not inevitable. It is the result of policy choices.

India is one of the most unequal countries in the world, whether one measures inequality on the basis of income or wealth.

 

YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS ENSURING THAT PEOPLE WHO LIVE ON THE PERIPHERY OF DEVELOPMENT HAVE A CHANCE TO GET ACCESS  TO QUALITY EDUCATION AND QUALITY HEALTHDONATE NOW

About Oxfam India's Inequality Project
Oxfam India believes that reducing inequality is fundamental to fair and sustainable development of any nation or society. Hence we have launched a campaign to create awareness about the widening gap between rich and poor, and take action. Every year (during the World Economic Forum at Davos in January) Oxfam releases a global report to track inequality in the world. This year, the report found that in India, the Richest 1% population cornered 73% of the country’s wealth generated in 2017

For centuries, too many people have lived and died in poverty on the margins of society, suffering discrimination and robbed of opportunity because they are born girls, born poor, or born into the marginalized section of the society. Today these age-old disparities have been further entrenched by an unprecedented concentration of wealth and power into the hands of a small elite

Through the India Inequality Project, Oxfam India aims to create an engaging photo series (inventive, urban & youth-centric) to deepen the understanding and emotional engagement of people with the inequality in India. 

All photos by Mallika Singhee for Oxfam India's Inequality Project

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Find out how Oxfam India is enabling communities by working to provide a life of dignity and equal opportunity for all.Get to know more about Oxfam India`s latest projects.

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