(c) Mahesh Shantaram
Hamza and Shukura from Nigeria, living in Jaipur, India
In January, a Tanzanian student was assaulted and partially stripped by a mob in the southern Indian city of Bangalore after a Sudanese student’s car ran over and killed a local woman.
Shocked by the incident and other similar attacks on Africans in India, independent photographer Mahesh Shantaram began documenting the lives of Africans living in India.
Beginning with Bangalore, Shantaram travelled to the cities of Jaipur, Delhi and Manipal, choosing to focus on students, as they are a small and vulnerable group.
Shantaram’s series of intimate portraits is part of an upcoming exhibition organised by Tasveer.
“Each portrait plays a part in unravelling the complex web of experiences of Africans in India that, put together, paint a picture of loneliness, placelessness and a sense of hostility,” says art expert Caroline Bertram, in an original text on the exhibition.
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(c) Mahesh Shantaram
Ola and Jason from Nigeria, living in Delhi
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(c) Mahesh Shantaram
Abdul-Kareem from Nigeria, living in Jaipur
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(c) Mahesh Shantaram
Vitu from Malawi, living in Bangalore
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(c) Mahesh Shantaram
Charity and friends from South Africa, living in Manipal
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(c) Mahesh Shantaram
Ameenou from Nigeria, living in Jaipur
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(c) Mahesh Shantaram
Misana from Tanzania, living in Bangalore
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(c) Mahesh Shantaram
Prosper from Tanzania, living in Bangalore
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(c) Mahesh Shantaram
Wandoh from Chad, living in Bangalore
