All Photographs by K. L. Kamat
First Online: September 10, 2000
Last Updated: February 17, 2024

Introduction

My heart feels heavy as I present these portraits of the poorest of the poor of India. My father documented these portraits, not for the Internet, not for the money or artistic effort, but with a sense of history in his mind. "In a few years, it will be hard for us to believe that we lived amongst people like these" he once wrote to me. The subjects in this series are mostly uneducated,  poor, and never been in front of a camera. Many were taken in deep forests of India where the technology was yet to make an impact. Innumerable times, after a person passed away, the relatives tracked down my father and had to request the only photograph of their loved ones. This website may be the only place that a record will exist of their existence. (No. India does not have an identification system).

 Is place in history, a privilege of the rich? 

-VK

Table of Contents

• "Do not waste your film on me"
• "Do you think I am Photogenic?"
• "How much do you charge to take my Photograph?"
• "I have never been photographed before.
• "If my suffering is Lord`s wish, I accept it"
• "Is it OK for a widow to be photographed?"
• "Sir, What are you going to do photographing a leper?"
• "The Camera Blitz is Blinding Me Uncle!"
• "Will my picture be shown in theaters?"
• "You educated can do all kinds of things!"
• A Carefree Tribal Family in the Bastar Forest
• A photograph does not soothe a hungry stomach
• Abel, the Village Tailor
• Elderly Man Belonging to the Gouli Community
• Never Been Photographed
• Never Been to a Dentist!
• Now you know why they are called `Sweat Shops`
• Portrait of a Homeless Man, Bangalore
• Siddi Brothers
• The Face of Poverty

• See the All the Pictures

• The Missing Cable Girl -- An interesting story of how Kamat's picture was needed to locate a disappeared girl.

 

See Also:

• Interviews with Poverty -- pictures of the poor

• The  Begging Profession  -- article on pan-handling in India

• Children of Asphalt -- pictures of homeless children

• Natives of The Timeless Theater -- the tribals of India