Few residents of the Saidapet slum had pipes attached to their motors, so that they could draw water from their private containers on the ground.
Sathish Kumar “Photographs can be exhibited anywhere, provided they communicate the story.”
When Sathish looks at water pipes, he is reminded of a maze, especially the ones he found while shooting for the Urban Water Workshop at the Chennai Photo Biennale 2016. He finds it quite intriguing to see how people have devised ingenious ways to combat the water shortage problem, amongst the various pockets of the city. He was surprised to say the very least.
However, there was a deeper connection that kept him tied to the project. Unfortunately, it had to do with his first-hand experience with the 2015 Chennai floods. “The floods affected my neighbourhood as well. There was no electricity and food supply for four days,” he said.
He was encouraged by workshop mentors, Munem Wasif and Ravi Agarwal, to concentrate on the hidden parts of the city. The lack of a definite style of shooting, inclined him towards the concept of time lapse and abstractions for this project. Mazes created out of the water pipes in the Saidapet slum, inspired him to photograph, and show the problem of water shortage and how everyone is struggling with it.
—Written by Sakshi Parikh