INDIA/Swarat GHOSH

[ Hyderabad, INDIA ] Sharmila (38), the better half of the photographer, a mother of two and also a working Indian woman, had given birth to a baby girl a couple of days back and was in her most vulnerable state. Here, she is breastfeeding her baby in the nursing home in Hyderabad during the lockdown period due to Covid-19 in June. She had gone through lots of anxiety and depression during this delivery time because of the pandemic.

According to the UN, more than 20 million babies are expected to be born in India from March to December 2020 since Covid-19 has been declared as a pandemic worldwide.

Unicef further warned that pregnant mothers and the babies born during the pandemic are threatened by strained health systems and disruptions in services around the world.

Swarat GHOSH is an Indian photographer based in Hyderabad. His photography has been published in several national and international magazines, including but not limited to - The Washington Post, Burn Magazine, National Geographic Traveller, and International Street Photographer. His work has also been presented in Brussels, London, Paris, Glasgow, Istanbul, Thailand, Pondicherry, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Currently, Swarat is part of Agency VII’s mentorship program. Furthermore, he was nominated for the Joop Swart Masterclass 2019, organized by World Press Photo. During that same year, he won awards under the “Series” categories of two major street photography festivals - the London Street Photography Festival and Brussels’s Street Photography Festival. In 2017, he was a finalist in “Lens Culture”, a street photography competition. In 2016, he won the prestigious “Neel Dongre Grants Awards for Excellence in Photography”, organized by the India Photo Archive Foundation. In 2018, his work, “Beyond Street”, was featured in a print exhibition for the Indian Photography Festival in Hyderabad, as well as an exhibition for North Carolina’s Eyes on Main Street Wilson Indoor Photo Festival. In 2017, his photographs were screened at the Odessa/Batumi Photo Days 2017 in Georgia, and the Photography Festival Maribor in Slovenia. His earlier work has been displayed on several platforms, including the Pondy Photo Fest Pondicherry 2014, in Pondicherry, India.

The Covid Experience

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