Zeitenspiegel photographer Christoph P\u00fcschner documents the daily lives of garbage collectors in India. For two weeks, Stuttgart-based photographer Christoph P\u00fcschner lived among the poorest of the poor from the Untouchable caste. His work is now on exhibit at the Willy Brandt House in Berlin.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the outskirts of the city of Guntur, home to millions, live the waste pickers \u2013 people who search through household waste, electronic scrap, and hospital waste for plastic, aluminum, and other recyclable materials. The waste collectors belong to the \u201eUntouchables,\u201d a caste ostracized by the rest of Indian society. They live in squalid huts built from discarded election posters, cardboard scraps, and rags. Indian environmental expert Rupa Mukherjee calls them the \u201ebackbone of the recycling system in India.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the end of 2018, author Nicole Graaf and Zeitenspiegel photographer Christoph P\u00fcschner spent two weeks accompanying the garbage collectors. Commissioned by the aid organization Brot f\u00fcr die Welt, which supports the local organization Dalit Bahujan Resource Center in the city of Guntur to improve the living conditions of the garbage collectors, the reporters tell the story of the daily lives of the people living there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The exhibition can be viewed from June 27 to August 30, 2020, in the gallery on the 2nd floor of the Willy-Brandt-Haus at Stresemannstra\u00dfe 28 in 10963 Berlin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n