“Only in the darkness can you see the stars.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
I was saddened to discover this week that a small slum colony I visited earlier this year in the Indian city of Hyderabad, has now been bulldozed by local developers. The most likely outcome will be that they will just have to move on and find a new piece of wasteland or roadside to occupy.
I’ll be travelling to the city again, ideally this side of Christmas, to work on a project.
Lets hope that these tiny feet will have found a new place to call home and that they’re safe and well.
“It’s the children the world almost breaks who grow up to save it.”
― Frank Warren
Photographs By Peter Knight 
A fantastic picture! I like it very much.
Thanks so much, glad you like :)
Reblogged this on Icanbeatit.
Beautiful photo…so sad to hear this!!
Thank you :) Hopefully I can report on a good outcome; fingers crossed!
Great photo and the final quote is very powerful …
Thanks Dorothy :)
I hope those little feet find freedom soon. A beautiful picture.
Patti your choice of the word freedom is very astute indeed. Well said, and thanks! :)
A wonderful image Peter that conveys so much. I do hope that these children and their families are not “in the wind” so to speak as they deserve a home as much as any of us on this planet. It is always difficult to think of such senselessness when homes/colonies/slums become raised to the ground in the name of progress….it maddens me, as there is no thought for those communities that have developed from nothing to become what they are today….Homes, schools and places of work.
I would love to know more about your next project. Regards, James
Absolutely James. If this place had been cleared away to make proper homes for these guys ie with water, toilets and a proper structure etc. that would have been progress for the better. (they were just makeshift shacks sited on a rubbish dump, constructed from old tarporline sheets, rocks, mud and scrap wood and metal)
In fact it’s probably a development for an office or private apartments.
The project is in only at the initial idea stage at the moment but is about contributing still images for a book being written about a similar subject. The author also runs an NGO in the city that started up from scratch several years ago and now they make a real difference to the community. Brilliant to be involved with it.
Also, I have an exhibition in London throughout August 2014 ( I was hoping to get some advise from you about printing actually!)
This sounds like a marvelous project Peter and I am sure it will be a success as collaborations like this are so important to our understanding of the world on a human level and as you say, NGO projects make a huge difference to the community, but they all need funding and our support.
An exhibiton….fantastic and a huge congrats! Very well deserved and I would love to attend as soon as you have more details. As for printing advise I may not be the best person to ask but I will help in any way I can. Just a footnote…check out Metro Printing in Clerkenwell, London and especially the Printspace, Kingsland Road, London.
it’s pretty much the same here, Peter. What I do wish is for the informal settlers here in my country who are surviving from a hand to mouth existence is to take time to really do some serious family planning so that they may have a decent quality of life and later on afford a property of their own.
Orlando I think you are absolutely right. It makes little sense to make life harder. It’s just one of so many issues that the authorities don’t seem to address. As always in the country, if the problem is not on the doorsteps of those in power; they don’t care about it?? They just think that if they leave it to NGO’s and charities to deal with, the problems will just go away and they can keep putting efforts into new airports and transit systems!
Our problem here is mainly about religion meddling with state affairs. Just recently a bill on reproductive health has been passed and the church has filed injunctions against the implementation of the law saying contraceptives can cause abortion. It’s still being debated in the judiciary and while they’re doing that, thousands of children are being born to families who could not afford to send these kids to school.
It’s a very controversial topic but I personally agree with your point entirely.
Without going into a massive essay about religion (I tend to get carried away sometimes!), I think that so many of the harmful elements of religion seem to come from ‘men’s’ interpretation of it. (I deliberately didn’t use the word ‘people’ there…it’s almost exclusively the males of our species that have positions of authority within organised religion; hence its problems)
hahaha.. my thoughts exactly, Peter. Men shouldn’t be allowed to decide for the women.
The little ones deserve a new home.
Lets hope :)
very moving picture and a thought with it Peter
Hi and thanks Kavita; I value your thoughts :)
What a fitting photo Peter. Such a shame to hear and I dare say you might find it harder to leave this time than the last. I truly hope those little feet have found somewhere like home.
Hello Roo!! Long time no see. Nice to hear form you :)
This happens almost all the time. The poor who somehow manage to create a space for themselves in the cities are invariably pushed out. All in the name of ‘development’. Hope to hear better news from you the next time you go there. I love your work, Peter.
Uday thanks so much I always appreciate your comments. I’m back soon so hope for good news :)
How sad to hear this Peter. Will there ever be an end to poverty… It is with people like you, who travel the world to the poorest places and who share photographs of this sad reality, that we can become more aware of what’s really happening to these people. Your work is very important, the world needs photographers like you. Thanks for sharing your photos.
I read a quote recently, “when the power of love is greater than the love of power the world will know peace”. Im not sure of the author of that. I think the world would see an end to poverty too!
I’m really thankful to you for looking at this post and writing; it’s a great encouragement. I have an exhibition of these prints in London next year and I need to go back to India before that to get a whole new collection of images. I’d love to do much more but it’s hard to fund all the travel!
Many thanks for your support and encouragement :)
So sad, Pete :(
What is the project you’ll be working on?
Hi Janice! I’ve just been going back over some old posts and noticed that I didn’t reply to this comment over a year ago! As they say though: better late than never I guess ;)
I hope this finds you well and happy! Whats happening on your side of the ocean these days??
LOL hey Pete! No worries, and definitely better late than never! I’m doing pretty good, been really busy over here these days with work, volunteering and really getting back into more music and creative stuff! How about you?? HOw’s the photography going and everything else?
I’m really good and busy as ever too! I’m trying really hard to travel, I have so many plans, but its so hard for me to find time at the moment. I won’t lose hope though and I’ll find the time. Had a really successful exhibition in London with my Hyderabad photographs and two more soon, which I’m really happy about. Need to get away and shoot more!
Do you have a link to any music you’ve been recording lately?
Tell me about the volunteering too!
Glad to hear it! :) I know what you mean, I have so many things I want to be doing right now and it feels like there’s never enough hours in the day! … Congrats on the exhibitions! Though I’m not surprised to hear about your success, your photos are really, really amazing and always make the viewer feel something special :) … Ah, the last recorded song I have up is “Ghost Town” (https://soundcloud.com/janice_music) … I was also on a local university radio show just for fun recently but am still waiting for that interview recording to be posted – I sang a new song I wrote on that … But I am definitely working hard to do more songwriting this year, so there will be more to come!… And the volunteering was to help do a youth opera program where youth from an area in the city who would normally not be exposed to opera got some opera education, learned to sing a classical piece, and are going to have a night at the opera! .. So many amazing things happening but also have to find time to regroup and reconnect with myself too :)
loved that framing :)
Hi Joshi and thanks. I thought that their little feet told the story better than anything else.