From widows of farmers in Maharashtra who had died by suicide to women drug users in Punjab and the gendered impact of water crisis in Uttarakhand, photographer Deepti Asthana’s work captures rural themes from the women’s perspective.
Photographer Deepti Asthana, whose body of work includes stories on rural India from the perspectives of women, says it was the farmer suicides in Vidarbha, Maharashtra, in 2016 that galvanised her into action in this area.
“I was living and working in Mumbai at the time,” recalled Asthana, who was then dabbling in other kinds of photography, besides pursuing a job in the corporate sector. “The situation in Vidarbha opened my eyes to the ground realities. People were willing to give up their lives for as little as Rs 15,000,” she added, noting that the contrast in circumstances that she experienced returning to Mumbai after that trip shocked her, and made her want to devote her efforts to documenting the plight of the marginalised, particularly women.
While at Vidarbha, Asthana, who practised other kinds of photography like travel, lived with the women of the area who had just lost their husbands to suicide. “Sleeping and waking with these women for days on end was an intense experience. They lived in abject poverty. The experience made me realise that I didn’t require a degree to tell the stories that matter,” she told Village Square, about being a self-taught photographer.
This is how, after a change of heart, Asthana decided to focus on sharing images of women in rural India, and tell their stories of courage and perseverance through the lens. She did this while still employed in the corporate sector.
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Next, she trained her focus on Punjab and decided to tell the story of women drug users in the state. “Men with drug dependence aren’t such a big social taboo as women who use drugs,” Asthana explained.
This initially made it difficult for her to find a subject who was willing to come forward for Asthana’s camera. Finally, when she did identify one girl who used drugs, Asthana had to return to Mumbai for work. During this time the girl died by suicide, leaving Asthana with a sense of guilt and helplessness at not being able to prevent such an outcome.
“I realised then that being a photographer isn’t just a calling for taking photos, but being a proactive participant in the issues that one is documenting through the camera,” she confessed. The incident also prompted Asthana to quit her corporate job and take up photography full time.
Asthana’s ability to connect with women in difficult circumstances comes from her own life experience. She hails from Bareilly and lost her father when she was four years old. Her mother had to bring her up as a single parent, and that brought upon the family its share of struggles.
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“I went to a Hindi-medium government school and received a basic education. Thereafter I was married off early and had to face a divorce. Those struggles made photography a tool for healing and escape from my difficult circumstances,” she said.
Having seen adversity as a woman up close herself, Asthana developed a natural empathy for her women subjects as she began photographing.
“I want to tell other photographers out there that technique isn’t everything… you have to learn to identify your voice first. People talk about the technical soundness of a photo a lot, but I always like to see the perspective of the photographer come through in someone’s work,” said Asthana, emphasising the importance of personal experience informing the work of professionals in this field.
From 2016 to 2019, Asthana practised photography at her own pace and in her own style. In 2019 she secured a scholarship to study the discipline in Denmark for six months. That was her first formal training in the field. She then got recognised in the ‘Global Talent Asia 2020’ list by the World Press Photo, and is the recipient of a grant by the National Geographic Society to document the water crisis in Uttarakhand from the perspective of women.
“In Uttarakhand, I became a proactive member of the team of an NGO that is working to combat the issue of the water crisis. We learnt how to build a water tank during conservation efforts,” she said of the stint that highlighted the plight of women in the state who spend hours each day on water duties.
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The other interesting project on women in rural India that she undertook is titled ‘A Thousand Thorns’. It tells the story of two women forest guards, Pushpa and Pushta, who work in the arid climbs of the Thar desert in Rajasthan.
“Their story struck me as unusual because it’s very uncommon for women in a state like Rajasthan to take on such roles,” said Asthana, who developed a close relationship with Pushpa and Pushta over the four years that she spent photographing them, and witnessing their trials and triumphs, including miscarriages and pressure from the family to produce a male heir.
Next Asthana hopes to tell the tale of the women in violence-ravaged Manipur.
“I visited the state before the ethnic crisis and will document the plight of women there once they are ready to tell their story after they recover from the trauma,” she said.
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The lead image on top shows photographer Deepti Asthana who says her life experiences have made her more empathetic towards the women she photographs. (Photo by Mitchell Kanashkevich)
Smriti Mukerji is a Delhi-based freelance journalist.
