Joan
Almond on India
In North Africa, I had let the path take me where it
wanted. India became more of a defined search: how were
these people handling their poverty with a population
problem that North Africans did not have? African villages
contained hundreds, but Indian villages thousands. The
larger the village, the more the identity problem, especially
with the caste system which perpetuates inequality.
Self-esteem is really what its all about. We take all
this for granted in North America, but it is awakening
in India. So I focused on Swadhyaya, a spiritual movement
which speaks to the very poor, the fishermen, and the
farmers of their equality under God; and ASTHA, a social
movement which empowers the aboriginal desert women
of Rajasthan. These "new" concepts were germinating
first in the village, then hopefully in the towns, to
flower eventually in the large cities. I tried to capture
this inner and outer light in my photographs. |
|
Village Women
