In Their Own Time is a documentary project about survivors of domestic violence in the rural districts of Chitrakoot and Banda, in Bundelkhand, western Uttar Pradesh.
The work began in 2022, with visits spread across several months: interviews first, then shoots. I made a decision early on to stay away from photographing violence or its aftermath. Gender-based violence in India is held in place by stigma, fear, and social structures that make it very difficult to speak about, let alone leave. What I wanted to document was the everyday world of the women living through it. Their strength. The things they are building, quietly, for themselves.
Bundelkhand is a historically neglected region. Limited roads, limited healthcare, very little of what makes a crisis easier to survive. The conditions that bring people there are the same conditions that make leaving hard.
Seventeen cases have been documented so far through photography and sustained conversation with survivors. The next phase moves toward participation: workshops with the women, using photography and other creative practices as a way to work together.
This work is generously supported by PhotoSouthAsia.
