A few weeks into the lockdown in March to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, Parul Sharma got tired of the workouts and cooking. ...
A few weeks into the lockdown in March to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, Parul Sharma got tired of the workouts and cooking. As images of empty streets streamed home on the television and through the internet, the photographer had had enough of the “second-hand reality” she was seeing. Early in April, Sharma hit the streets of Delhi with her camera to see it all for herself.
The project has yielded more than 10,000 images so far. From shooting a desolate Lutyens’ Delhi to the haunted vistas of Old Delhi, Sharma moved on to documenting migrants leaving the city, Covid-19 patients being treated at the All India Institute of Medical Science, and grim scenes at the crematoriums and graveyards.
A selection of these photographs have been published by Roli Books, titled Dialects of Silence: Delhi under Lockdown.
“The idea certainly wasn’t to do photojournalism, but a photographer cannot draw boundaries for themselves,” Sharma told Scroll.in. “Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother photograph shot during the Great Depression blurs the line between news and art, as it transcends boundaries and is just as relatable for an Indian viewer as it is for an American.”
In the introduction, Sharma quotes war photographer Robert Capa: “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t...
