Photojournalist GMB Akash Captures The Complex Stories Of Child Labour & Childhoods Lost
Can you exchange a day with your own child in the place of these children? Can you deposit your children’s labour in such a place for a day in return of $1. If you can’t, can you please do something for these children? “Wishing to help” is an excuse. Shame is a mild word to what we are overlooking. May our spirit wake up,” said GMB Akash, documentary photographer and photojournalist from Bangladesh, giving a face to the issue of child labour, and forcing the public to look at the human toll of an all too common phenomenon.
With a focus on social issues, he realised that to abolish child labour, one has to first make it visible. With this intent, he began his photo series ‘Angels in Hell’ and ‘Born to Work’ that created an uproar and the much-needed discourse in both national and international circles.
“My intention is not only to show the children at work as victims of bad bosses exploiting them, but I want to show the complexity of the situation: The parents who send their little boy to work in a factory because they are poor; the child who has to work to earn a living for the family; the boss of the factory who is being pushed by big garment companies to produce for less money; and the Western consumers as clients who buy cheap clothes,” says the award winning photojournalist, as he continues to tell some of the most poignant stories of child labourers.
For over 15 years now, with countless conversations with children working in hazardous conditions in coal mines, balloon factories, dumping grounds, textile, brick kiln and cigarette factories, he brings to the fore the real stories and nuances that reflect many childhoods across the world – Long working hours, exploitation and harassment by the employer, ill health due to working in hazardous conditions, drop out from the school, lack of a support system all ultimately lead to deprived childhood.
A master of his craft, his work not only reflects in his technical skill, but also his humanitarian heart, provoking the viewer to understand from a child’s perspective this dreadful reality.
Here’s a look at his Instagram feed that tells many a story of the world’s youngest labourers.
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