" Israel is in my heart, but India is in my blood. " - Ezekiel Isaac Malekar My project explores the dwindling communities of indigenous Indian Jews who have been a part of India's rich cultural and religious tapestry for over 25 centuries. It documents the stories of the few who stayed in India despite the call in 1951 to make aliyah ('return' to Israel) and chose to maintain links to their native land and histories, and preserve their ancient religious and cultural heritage. It also focuses on a younger generation of Indian Jews who are returning to India, tracing their links to their ethnic identities, and seeking deeper cultural roots. This generation is beginning a new chapter in the history of India's Jews, one that builds on the courage of a previous generation that choose heritage over a coreligionistic land and believed that belonging is not just about place, but also about memory, heritage and lineage. ** This personal project is now being continued in medium format 120 colour film

Suzanne Lee Jewish Project

India's seemingly impressive economic growth of 8.4% hides the crushing poverty and malnutrition that remain a harsh reality for millions of her children. Mainly due to poverty, India has the largest number of child labourers under the age of 14 in the world with an estimated 12.6mil children engaged in hazardous occupations like mining. My project is an ongoing investigation into child labour and broader socio-economic realities that force families to use their children, some as young as 5, as breadwinners and providers. I explore not just the day-to-day conditions of life imposed on India's weakest, but also the extensive social & economic institutions that create these situations. Mining activities in Meghalaya are small-scale ventures controlled by individuals who lease the land. The coal is extracted by a primitive mining method called 'rat-hole' mining that entails digging pits to reach the coal seams. Makeshift bamboo ladders lead miners down into the pits to chip away through two-feet-high tunnels where children are considered the right size to work. Spending time with these children in the mines, I experienced the hellish environments they work in. Sulphurous methane gasses flow from large cracks in the ground as coalfires rage beneath the earth. Volatile highland weather cause sudden floods, often killing unsuspecting miners. These children have no access to basic sanitation, education or healthcare. The consequences are devastating for them, their young bodies riddled with the effects of breathing hazardous gasses, drinking poisoned water, and carcinogenic sicknesses like the chronic lung disease pneumoconiosis. Death accompanies them on a near daily basis though most deaths go unreported. The children work long hours either crawling in pitch-dark wet tunnels 250 feet underground where dynamite rods are carelessly used, or carrying inconceivable weights of coal for long distances over scorching coalfields that threaten to buckle due to brittle ground.

Minor Miners is my ongoing investigation into child labour in Indian coalmines and broader socio-economic realities that force families to use their children as full-time breadwinners doing hard labour. I explore not just the day-to-day conditions of life imposed on India's weakest and most vulnerable, but also the extensive socio-economic institutions that create these dire situations. India has the largest number of child labourers under the age of 14 in the world. With an estimated 12.6million children engaged in hazardous occupations, India's seemingly impressive economic growth of hides the crushing poverty that remain a harsh reality for millions of her children. I have been photographing the working/living conditions of child miners along India’s ‘coal-belt’ and will continue by traveling to the children’s origins, probing the core desperations they confronted, pushing them to taking these steps. Problems like displacement and loss of livelihood in their homelands can lead illiterate, unskilled communities into extreme poverty, driving them to migrate to nearby industrial towns and finally to such desperate measures as selling their children to the mining mafia.

Minor Miners is my ongoing investigation into child labour in Indian coalmines and broader socio-economic realities that force families to use their children as full-time breadwinners doing hard labour. I explore not just the day-to-day conditions of life imposed on India's weakest and most vulnerable, but also the extensive socio-economic institutions that create these dire situations. India has the largest number of child labourers under the age of 14 in the world. With an estimated 12.6million children engaged in hazardous occupations, India's seemingly impressive economic growth of hides the crushing poverty that remain a harsh reality for millions of her children. I have been photographing the working/living conditions of child miners along India’s ‘coal-belt’ and will continue by traveling to the children’s origins, probing the core desperations they confronted, pushing them to taking these steps. Problems like displacement and loss of livelihood in their homelands can lead illiterate, unskilled communities into extreme poverty, driving them to migrate to nearby industrial towns and finally to such desperate measures as selling their children to the mining mafia.