By Vanshika Singh on January 30th 2020
Scrap work is the linchpin of livelihoods for many who think Hyderabad is ‘’the sone ki chidiya’’ (The Golden Bird) that will not let anyone sleep on an empty stomach. Many find in Bholakpur, their place in the city, as they segregate, process and recycle plastic waste in the city – the junk for which […]
By Vanshika Singh on January 17th 2020
As we desire our cities to be clean, they must salvage, sort, sequester and refabricate the unending waste. Bholakpur in Hyderabad, does precisely that. All manner of solid waste – plastic, metal, raw hides and electronic refuse are processed, recycled and circulated back into the economy by a complex repertoire of techniques and tasks. Furthermore, […]
By S Bharat on December 16th 2019
This article is the third part of a three part series reflecting on the archiving process undertaken to create the Kolkata Urban Archive. Access the second and first parts. One of the most common questions I ask of people, as an archivist, is “what is this document”, usually while holding up a piece of paper. Typically […]
By S Bharat on December 16th 2019
This article is the second of a three part series reflecting on the archiving process undertaken to create the Kolkata Urban Archive. Access the third and first parts. “That every document comes layered with the received account of earlier events and the cultural semantics of a political moment makes one point clear. What constitutes the […]
By S Bharat on October 1st 2019
This article is the first part of a three part series reflecting on the archiving process undertaken to create the Kolkata Urban Archive. Access the second and third parts. Even where archives strive to fill gaps in our collective memories, retrace the expulsions and silencings that produced the conditions of possibility for the present, the form […]
By Dipon Bose on July 20th 2019
I am analysing urban settlement patterns and processes of mixed use auto- constructed neighbourhood at Chintal Basti, Hyderabad. These series of images represent the clan-based in-situ timeline of autoconstruction of my respondent, Bhikaram V’s house and neighborhood. They track 80 years of changes in the built environment in terms of materials and processes. […]