Ingrid Hendriksen, The Kathputli Slum. (Doco/Photojournalism (2018))

Last April I Spent 2 days in the Kathpuly Slum, New Delhi to do a Photo essay, documenting the lives and activities of the residents in the colony . The Colony was colourful creative, but it proved no fairytale existence. The area wheezed with disease, tuberculosis was rife, and so was malaria. The pungent odours of faeces, urine and cooking fat fill the alleyways, there was no toilets and limited clean water. Kathputli was a 40-year old colony of about 2,800 families. The community consisted of street performers, dancers, puppeteers and magicians. Living conditions in Kathputli were far below Delhi’s living standards and most parts of the colony was classified as “slum area” but to these people it was their home. Sadly last November the Kathputli Colony was demolished for a housing development . 90 % of the residents have been given new accomodation .

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.