Photographer Ashiq MK is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this  social documentary photography.   From his project ‘Live Stuck To Magnet‘. To see Ashiq’s portfolio click on any image.

 

Scavengers running behind a truck arriving with waste at Okhla Landfill - Delhi.
Scavengers running behind a truck arriving with waste at Okhla Landfill – Delhi.

 

‘Lives stuck to magnets’

You have to use the strength of your whole family to get your cycle-rickshaw up the mountain of years of waste. Your days start and end in stench of a waste from across the city. You don’t see any option but to sacrifice the dreams and hope of your offspring and make them accustomed to the hardship of life they are entitled to live, to make them young adults.

 

A family getting their cycle rikshaw up on top of the Okhla Landfill - Delhi.
A family getting their cycle rikshaw up on top of the Okhla Landfill – Delhi.

 

Children waiting as their parents scavenged in the municipal waste in Okhla Landfill - Delhi.
Children waiting as their parents scavenge in the municipal waste in Okhla Landfill – Delhi.

 

Children doing their share of work scavenging in Okhla Landfill - Delhi.
Children doing their share of work scavenging in Okhla Landfill – Delhi.

 

‘Lives stuck to magnets’ is a photo series on lives of people who scavenge the processed waste in landfills of Delhi. They use a piece of magnet attached to a stick to separate small metal pieces from the waste and clean and sell them to make a living.

 

Men using their rods with magnet at an end to get metal parts out of the processed city waste.
Men using their rods with magnet at an end to get metal parts out of the processed city waste.

 

Cleaning and sorting the collected metals pieces.

 

A man at the process of cleaning and sorting the collected metals pieces

 

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Moving to a plastic bag the metal pieces accumulate on magnets.

 

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Scavengers are seen on top of the landfill as the line of Delhi Transport Corporation Bus Depot is seen far below.
Scavengers are seen on top of the landfill as the line of Delhi Transport Corporation Bus Depot is seen far below.

 

Two girls carry collected metals parts to where they clean them off the mud, as a man is seen drinking water.
Two girls carrying collected metal parts to get clean, as a man is seen drinking water.

 

See also:

Delhi Elections 2015

Dogs As Humans

By Ashiq MK

 


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