Photo Exhibition: “Don’t Call Me Chinki”

DON'T CALL ME CHINKI – A photo essay on the discrimination faced by people of Northeast India in Delhi-NCR is held in Central Atrium, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi from 15-21 March 2018. Mr Lokesh Dang has collected various photographs of the Northeast people for the past three years. The work is supported by National Foundation for India. This exhibition is perhaps the first-of-its-kind in New Delhi.

NEW DELHI: A young and vibrant lensman, Mr Lokesh Dang, studied Photography at Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication, Delhi. Born in 1991 and lives in Gurgaon and has been travelling in India for various projects. In 2015 he set out on his foot as a freelance photographer.

The focus of his works mostly revolves around Documentary Photography and Photojournalism. He received the NFI (National Foundation for India) Media Award 2017 which funded him to do a project on “Don’t Call Me Chinki”, to highlight the injustice faced by the Northeast Community in Delhi and National Capital Regions. It took him more than three years to capture photographs of the Northeastern people living in the National Capital City.

Mr Dang also recently received the Neel Dongre Award 2017 in which he explored the Urban Villages of Gurgaon through his lens. He continue to experiment with Architecture Photography, which also helps him to cope with his day-to-day needs.

He has visited few places in the North-East, during the famous Nagaland’s Hornbill Festival in 2016. He went to Siliguri to Darjeeling, then Assam further to Kaziranga National Park, and to Meghalaya. And he is dreaming to explore more.

With the photographer.

Here is an excerpt from a tete-a-tete with Lokesh Dang.

Khalvontawi: What makes you interest in northeast communities?

Lokesh Dang: I started photography - this project – three years back when I was on a Photowalk in Delhi with my friend, who has mongoloid features and some boys started asking her questions like “Where are you from, Are you from China?” I felt bad and started asking myself which haunted me for many days. Thus this intrigued me to start a research on the Northeast people.

KV: What is the difference or misunderstanding between the Mainland (may, I used this word) and Northeast Indians in the metro cities?

LD: I think the difference is “Culture” and the greatest problem is the “Ignorance” of the mainland people.  

KV: Have you ever witnessed a men or women of NE states being molested or abused or ill-treated?

LD: Yes, of course, few incidents. I can share one incident in which while I was talking to a middle-aged man in Chakkarpur, Gurgaon and there was a woman who came and complaint to the man about his neighbour; who was not treating her appropriately and she was being abused by him. In her defence she boldly said: “We are not Chinkis, Why is your neighbour abusing us?” This statement shocked me, looking at the mindset of a young literate woman.

KV: What will be the best way to bridge the gap between Mainland & NE States?

LD: Our Education system should include the history, geography and the beautiful cultures of the Northeast states.

KV: How would you like to bring NE closer?

LD: I think this exhibition is just a tip of the ice-berg. There’s a lot more to be done but I guess i will want more engagement from my Northeast friends to take it further to different metropolitan cities all over India.

KV: Apart from your photo exhibition, what else have you plan?

LD: I am not sure how am, I going to take this project further, but I have plan to convert it into a photoebook in a short time.

KV: What do you like most in NE states?

LD: I would love to visit the NE states again. The purpose can be just to eat the most amazing ‘Pineapples’, which I tasted in Shillong. I also want to study the internal boundary issues and the diverse cultures in NE regions, in depth.

KV: How do you see or think of the Northeast people?

LD: I am not sure what to say after sharing all these words. I think you should be the judge now. (with his smiles)

KV: Would you like to share few words for the readers?

LD: I would like to invite everyone to visit the photo exhibition at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi till March 21, 2018. The purpose of this exhibition is to encourage the dormant humanness in us to make our city a better place to live in.

~Bruce K. Thangkhal

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