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Abstract
This ground-breaking visual essay encapsulates a 20-year ethnographic study on manual sand miners in Koilwar, Bihar, India, along the River Sone. Highlighting the participant perspective of the miners, this work is the result of a close collaboration between the miners and the researchers. It traces the evolving lifestyle patterns of manual sand miners in Koilwar – depicting the humble beginnings, a peak phase, and a subsequent gradual decline. It underscores the decline of a once-sustainable manual sand mining culture, sacrificed in the pursuit of advancing the national economy and infrastructure in a developing country like India. This independent study is a collaboration between Puneet Gupta, a photography researcher and faculty member and Ashish Gupta, a documentary photographer. Ashish started photographing sand miners in 2003, and Puneet joined in 2013.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We appreciate Suresh Thakur’s assistance in accessing sand miners, and we extend our thanks to Balram Singh, the sand miner who facilitated the river photograph. We would also like to express our gratitude to Sunitha Chitrapu and the reviewers for their invaluable guidance in restructuring the narrative.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Ashish Gupta, the documentary photographer, initiated the research study in 2003 and captured all the photographs for the essay. Puneet Gupta joined the study in 2013, conducted data collection and analysis, performed the research, and authored the manuscript.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Puneet Gupta
Puneet Gupta, an Assistant Professor at Symbiosis School of Visual Arts & Photography, specialises in Photojournalism, Documentary Photography, Architectural Photography, and Sociology. Beginning as a photojournalist, she transitioned into academia and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Photojournalism at Symbiosis Centre for Research and Innovation, Pune.
Ashish Gupta
Ashish Gupta, a documentary photographer for a prominent English daily, excels in capturing compelling human-interest stories. His expertise shines when portraying the challenges faced by socially vulnerable groups, particularly in remote and hard-to-reach areas.