Till justice is done

The photographers documenting offshoots of the farmers’ protest that has now entered its second year, much like the nameless agitators they capture, are faceless. Their collective work is now part of a short film that traces the recording of one of India’s most significant resistance movements

The farmers sitting on protest against the three contentious farm laws, which the government has long projected as agricultural reforms, but which its critics say will do away with the minimum support price (MSP), leaving them at the mercy of big corporations, have been on the road for close to a year. It’s not been very different for photojournalist Rohit Lohia, who has travelled thousands of kilometres in the last 11 months, documenting this agitation on the Punjab-Haryana border. 

The subjects he has shot stand out for their steely resolve. And the stories he has gathered, brimming with anger and determination, are now set to be part of a larger collective of documentation by well-known photographers from across the country. Their images are now part of the 20-minute film, 0 km [zero kilometres], recently released on the 75th year of India’s Independence. Produced and presented by Samyak Drishti, an online photography monthly magazine published by Padma Shri Sudharak Olwe, it captures the struggle of the protesters, their pain and the spirit of solidarity. “It is nothing, but an archive of one of the most significant resistance movements that India has witnessed in recent times,” Mumbai-based Olwe tells us. The film was officially released by Omar Badsha, a South African documentary photographer, artist, political and trade union activist and historian. 

As an effigy burns in the backdrop, a protester breaks down. Pic courtesy/Rohit Lohia

Farmers have launched sit-ins in the national capital, across Punjab and Haryana and other states, for over a year. They have burnt effigies, and blocked railroads and toll plazas to protest laws, risking their lives and livelihoods. “Photography is a challenging medium because it holds a certain truth at the centre of its reflection. As we live in a site of sightlessness, this film seeks the freedom to shout, ‘I am a witness.’ The idea was to respect the farmers and their movement, and bring together the photographers who have tirelessly documented their agitation across sites,” says artist Riyas Komu. 

Agriculturist Jagdev Singh has been sitting on protest for months. Pic courtesy/Vicky Roy

The film carries select photographs by T Narayanan, Pawan Kumar, HK, the Octo-Owl, Sudharak Olwe, Vicky Roy, Shreya Sharma, Smita Tumuluru , Nav Rahi , Vinit Gupta, Varinder Maddokke, Aman Knojia, Harish Tyagi, Biju Ibrahim, Rohit Lohia, Prabhas Kumar and Randeep Maddoke. While Abhishek Dutta, filmmaker and photographer, took on the responsibility to realise the idea, and helm editing and sound design, Sumangala Damodaran, an academic and music researcher, helped structure the narrative. The challenge of sifting through thousands of images, and research was assigned to Kirti Marodia from Samyak Drishti. 

A man performs with the gatka at the Ghazipur border, one of the protest sites. Pic courtesy/Shreya Sharma

When we ask them to pick their most favourite frames, the trio is unable to. “This being a structured and visually narrated archive of an ongoing struggle, all the photographs are important,” Komu thinks. 

Sudharak Olwe and Rohit Lohia

Lohia, who hasn’t left the protest site since he got there last August, says, he is especially partial to families, who lost their loved ones in the past year. “Jashanpreet Singh, an 18-year-old boy, died of cardiac arrest during the protest. He was the only child to his old parents, and born after almost a decade of prayers. I’ve watched as his parents fought for their two-acre land despite having lost their son. They won’t budge. It is stories like theirs that have encouraged me to stick around till justice is done.”

Watch the docu here @Photographypromotiontrust, Instagram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPwk4ttQifE

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