00:00Anything hazardous to humans is dumped here in North Chennai.
00:06We need to tell these stories because we are the ones who are affected by it.
00:13Shaktivel is one of eight photographers from Vyasaithodarkal, a volunteer-driven youth
00:18collective based out of Vyasarpadi in North Chennai.
00:22They put together a photo exhibition called Engal Thirukkal Engal Kathaygal, which means
00:26our streets, our stories.
00:29The stories we are repeatedly told are from those in power, right?
00:33And people end up being powerless and voiceless.
00:35This initiative is the beginning of a question, what will it look like when people tell their
00:38stories in their native languages?
00:41Mentored by photographer Palani Kumar, they aim to showcase the life of marginalized communities
00:46in North Chennai through personal experiences.
00:48Shaktivel recollects an incident that left a huge mark on him.
00:52I was in an auto rickshaw.
00:54A passenger suddenly asked, what's that smell?
00:57He learned we were in my neighborhood, Vyasarpad, and said, oh, that's why.
01:02He added, if mosquitoes bite the people here, it's the mosquitoes that die, not the people.
01:08He implied that we are filthy and poisonous.
01:11That really hurt.
01:12We are people too, but he acted like we are different.
01:22Fueled by this incident, Shaktivel decides to do a photo series on the Kudungiyur dump
01:26yard, located just a kilometer away from the borders of Vyasarpadi, where he resides.
01:32Kudungiyur, one of the city's two dump yards, holds the waste of more than 40 years in an
01:37area equivalent to about 190 football fields.
01:44I remember this incident vividly.
01:46Lorries were dumping waste and there was a water bottle half filled with water.
01:51A rack picker opened the bottle and drank the water.
01:53When I asked her why she was drinking from it, she said, it's dirty outside, but the
01:58water inside is good.
01:59This is what we drink.
02:01People say times are changing, but the truth is, there are still people like her who are
02:05struggling to survive.
02:13I think Shaktivel's work on the Kudungiyur dump yard is important.
02:16If a foreigner come to document it, they would never discover the people's stories, what's
02:20their life like, how do they live, how many generations have been there.
02:23They would merely show the visuals and leave.
02:25But Shaktivel follows up with help, for example, by getting aid for them during floods.
02:29I think going this extra mile is really important for this process.
02:32By documenting the families affected by the dump yard, Shaktivel's photographs sit at
02:37the intersection of environmental and social injustice and unravel the discrimination North
02:42Chennai has faced for generations.
02:45Social activist Penny Shah, who worked on a report on the air pollution levels in North
02:49Chennai, points out how this part of the city, which holds the highest population of
02:53marginalised communities, is also the one that's burdened with highly polluting industries
02:58that South Chennai is free of.
03:02The undeniable truth is that we're exploiting North Chennai's resources and extracting their
03:07energy to grow.
03:09Everything we need we get from there, electricity from thermal power plants and petroleum products.
03:15Even the skilled labourers are from North Chennai.
03:23Penny Shah draws parallels on how this exploitative practice has a direct and adverse impact on
03:29who is most affected by climate change events like extreme heat and unpredictable drains
03:34in the city.
03:35Climate change doesn't swoop in one day and impact everyone.
03:40It slowly affects only those who have been subjected to social injustice and have been
03:45deceived for generations.
03:56Because this is their home, these photographers have a unique take on the complexities of
04:00life here.
04:01Like that photo over there, it won't even have occurred to me.
04:05Referring to one of Shaktiveel's photographs of the devastating effects of the 2023 Chennai
04:10floods, Palani addresses how youth from marginalised communities do far more justice in capturing
04:16the immediate impacts of climate disasters than outsiders.
04:20Places in Chennai like Velachery and Madipakkam were widely covered, but North Chennai was
04:25drowning at the same time.
04:26No one was documenting this, so I decided it was up to me to document this and I took
04:30the risk, grabbed my umbrella and took the photo from the terrace of a building here.
04:39By empowering youth like Shaktivel from marginalised communities with tools and resources, a whole
04:44new generation of powerful storytellers who pay attention to socio-environmental issues
04:49are introduced.
04:52It is our duty to raise awareness about the situation here because no one else is going
04:56to take stock of it.
04:59Purely for that reason, there's a need to document this.
05:02Will these images change people's views immediately?
05:04No.
05:05But photographs can establish connections between various nuances that may otherwise
05:09go unnoticed.
05:13I want to continue documenting life in North Chennai and share my work with the world.
05:17I believe I'll be able to do it.
05:21With their two-day exhibition, the young photographers thrust a spotlight on the hardship, injustice
05:26and dangers faced by people in North Chennai.
05:29Judging by the crowds who came to see it, its impact could be reverberated well beyond
05:33the boundaries of their community.
