Scenes from the Delhi village caught up in AAP controversy
Photographer and Khirki resident Malini Kochupillai shares some of her photographs of the Delhi neighbourhood.
Malini Kochupillai, who teaches architectural design, is also a freelance photographer. She has been living in Khirki for three years, but had been photographing urban villages even before that.
Khirki is a Delhi neighbourhood that came to the attention of the national media after Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti led a raid on Ugandan women, claiming they were sex workers and drug dealers.
“I find Khirki exciting because of its multiculturalism,” Kochupillai said. “But because of these raids on one community, tomorrow I could be targeted, or some other community could be targeted.”
She loves Khirki best for the freedom on its streets. There is no strict delineation of public and private as is the case in middle-class neighbourhoods. “The more gated communities we have, the more alienated we become from others,” Kochupillai said. As an organiser of public art projects, this is important to her.
“This city should celebrate multiculturalism and egalitarianism, but that is being destroyed by politicians,” she observed.
Kochupillai took many of these photos during 'Extension Khirkee', a street art festival organised in 2010 by artist Aastha Chouhan.
1.
This is one of several murals in Khirki created after the street art festival.
2.
Grace Zanotto, wearing a rainbow burqa, poses with her brother David Zanotto. She is a street artist who calls herself 'Super Burka Girl'. Her aim is to modernise the burqa.
3.
Residents look on as artists decorate the walls of the neighbourhood.
4.
Khirki inhabitants face the camera.
5.
At an African kitchen in Khirki, which closed due to financial difficulties a month before Bharti's raid. The owner of the restaurant left India for Cameroon soon after tensions rose.
6.
Members of the media interview an African woman days after the Bharti raid.
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Khirki is a Delhi neighbourhood that came to the attention of the national media after Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti led a raid on Ugandan women, claiming they were sex workers and drug dealers.
“I find Khirki exciting because of its multiculturalism,” Kochupillai said. “But because of these raids on one community, tomorrow I could be targeted, or some other community could be targeted.”
She loves Khirki best for the freedom on its streets. There is no strict delineation of public and private as is the case in middle-class neighbourhoods. “The more gated communities we have, the more alienated we become from others,” Kochupillai said. As an organiser of public art projects, this is important to her.
“This city should celebrate multiculturalism and egalitarianism, but that is being destroyed by politicians,” she observed.
Kochupillai took many of these photos during 'Extension Khirkee', a street art festival organised in 2010 by artist Aastha Chouhan.
1.
This is one of several murals in Khirki created after the street art festival.
2.
Grace Zanotto, wearing a rainbow burqa, poses with her brother David Zanotto. She is a street artist who calls herself 'Super Burka Girl'. Her aim is to modernise the burqa.
3.
Residents look on as artists decorate the walls of the neighbourhood.
4.
Khirki inhabitants face the camera.
5.
At an African kitchen in Khirki, which closed due to financial difficulties a month before Bharti's raid. The owner of the restaurant left India for Cameroon soon after tensions rose.
6.
Members of the media interview an African woman days after the Bharti raid.
