About Hands of Hope, the photo-exhibition:

‘Hands of Hope’ is a series of exhibitions organized at the initiative of SEWA Bharat in partnership with One World Action and the UK Department for International Development (DFID). The theme of the exhibition is “Hands of Hope,” and all photographs and information presented highlight the various facets, which constitute this central idea. Divided into six different themes, the pictures illustrate the many different forms of labor and income-generating activities in which SEWA members are involved, including individual and collective forms of struggle against corruption, diminishing natural resources and economic opportunities. Women have been shown engaged in their daily income generating activities, such as bidi rolling, embroidery and participation in micro-credit collectives, and have also been shown caring for their families. The intention is to highlight the various trades in which women engage in order to support their families, especially those trades associated with specific geographic regions, to honor these demonstrations of women’s empowerment and to document SEWA members’ stories of obstacles and successes experienced in their struggles to establish and maintain self-sufficiency. Each photograph is accompanied by a brief notation, highlighting the activities presented and the state from which the subject hails. Short excerpts from women’s life stories, gathered through personal interviews, may also be included to further contextualize the images. All photography has been undertaken by Dr. Sanjay Kumar, Coordinator of SEWA Bharat, the All-India Federation of the Self-Employed Women’s Associations. Dr. Sanjay Kumar has been involved with the SEWA movement for nearly nine years and has been involved with all type of activities both at the grassroots and policy level. Taking advantage of his vast experience with the informal sector workers and his passion for photography, he decided to share the lives of poor women workers with the outer world through the exhibition and proposed book.