- Kisho Kumar’s 15-year journey documenting the plantations
Nestled within the central hills of Sri Lanka shrouded in fog are the plantations and the communities that surround them. It is among those plantations that documentary photographer Kisho Kumar has spent the last 15 years of his life observing and researching the many issues that plague this community hidden away from the rest of us.
The year 2023 marks exactly 200 years since the British brought down South Indian Tamil people to work on our plantations, so it’s fitting that after more than a decade, Kumar’s solo exhibition ‘Hills of Neglect’ opened its doors to the public on 31 March and continued until 2 April at the Sapumal Foundation.
“There are people out there celebrating 200 years of the plantation community,” Kumar told me. “I choose to mark 200 years through awareness.”
Kumar’s exhibition sparked public interest, with a steady stream of interested parties trickling through the door for the entirety of the three days. In particular, the evening segments on two days – ‘Behind the Lens with Kisho’ – attracted a crowd that discussed the journey and motivation behind this powerful project.
The exhibition itself was observed amid sounds of heavy rainfall – a reminder that in the plantations, it rains throughout the year, but life doesn’t stop for the workers.
Brunch sat down with Kumar for a quick conversation on the road from Hatton to Colombo. It was not an easy ride.
Decades of work for centuries of neglect
The plantation community has more issues at stake than just their daily minimum wages, Kumar said. Simply accessing basic necessities is a struggle and a fight, and intentionally so. “I believe nothing in the plantations happens by coincidence,” Kumar told me. “There’s always some political or social motive behind it.” He noted that while there were a myriad of issues that were not in the public eye yet, he chose to focus his work on the subjects of teenage pregnancies, school dropouts, and migrant workers, all of which were interconnected.
Kumar’s journey started in 2008, when he saw a young girl in her early teens carrying a baby while he was on an expedition. While he initially assumed the baby to be the elder child’s sibling, he later learned that it was in fact her own baby. This left Kumar heartbroken and opened his eyes to some of the issues of the community.
Since then, Kumar has been researching and documenting the community’s struggles and identifies these three interconnected issues as the main contributors:
- Young migrant parents who move abroad in search of better financial prospects, leaving the children vulnerable
- School dropouts, statistics swept under the rug, leaving uneducated and vulnerable children
- Teenage pregnancies due to children being without their parents, exposed and unprotected, leading to another vicious cycle
Kumar believes that elevating the quality of life and preserving the dignity of the plantation community is the first step to enact long-term and systematic change. He brings up issues such as land rights, citizenship, and systemic oppression to highlight why more and more people choose to migrate, even when they leave their children defenceless.
“I don’t think this is the kind of research that can be completed in six months,” he stated. “One must continuously observe these happenings and see what are the social and political factors behind these occurrences.”
A misrepresented community
Another key theme of Kumar’s exhibition was the political undertones that coloured every photograph. Indeed, as one of his photo descriptions read: “The people don’t realise that their representatives have been corrupted from the start. At the grassroots level, decisions are incentivised through bribes, including alcohol. The stark inequality staring everyone in the face is missed and elections are heavily influenced. The game is about the sustainability of the parties but not the people.”
The community’s isolated nature makes it easy for it to be fooled and misrepresented to the larger public. Kumar questions the motives behind many of the political games being played today.
Even his exhibition, he noted, had many hurdles. It had taken him almost 10 years to secure funding, despite actively reaching out to many organisations. Even after finally getting the green light for the project, he was visited by a few unsavoury visitors with the purpose of intimidation at the exhibition itself. Nonetheless, Kumar is adamant in his stance that awareness about these issues has to be raised.
Rays of hope for a community in darkness
Despite the challenges, feedback has been very positive overall, Kumar said. Even a few prominent ambassadors had paid personal visits to see his work. “Many people have started to empathise and are trying to understand these problems, so my goal has been achieved,” he said. “There was one person who walked in, got very emotional, started crying and left, saying he couldn’t go through all the pictures. Afterwards, he sent other people [to view the exhibition]. People empathising is a big success for me.”
Kumar plans to turn the exhibition into a photojournal in the near future, so that his work can reach more people. There is also a website for his organisation, the Organisation of Inspire People, in the works. In addition, talks are underway to host the exhibition in Jaffna and possibly Batticaloa.
“Things are changing in Sri Lanka. People are now more into social topics. I want to make sure my work is not a single exhibition that fades away, but rather one that has long-term impacts that lead to solutions.”