UNSEEN & UNTOLD
My deep interest in humanity and the essence of being human has guided my journey over the past twelve years. My curiosity about the underlying causes of global power imbalances and systemic violence has led me to diverse cultural environments and distant regions around the world.
Alongside pen and paper, I one day picked up a camera – to preserve these fleeting moments before they fade into oblivion.
Some of the realities I had the privilege to witness and document.
No Farmer No Food – among the voices at the Farmer’s Protest in India
Oxygen – more Panic than Pandemic?
Unwanted – living under repression and persecution, Rohingya on the run
Everywhere and Nowhere, the Nomads of the Himalayas (follows soon)
Life on the Edge – the marginalized communities in Jammu and Kashmir (follows soon)
No Farmer - No Food
Among the Voices at the Farmer’s Protest in India
Visual Reportage
The Farmers' Protest (2020 – 2021) in India was one of the largest and longest in history, sparked by three new agricultural laws. Farmers, especially from Punjab and Haryana, feared these laws would dismantle the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system and leave them vulnerable to corporate exploitation by deregulating agricultural trade, contract farming, and commodity storage.
In response, tens of thousands of farmers staged year-long protests at Delhi’s borders, demanding a repeal. The movement gained national and global attention, symbolizing the fight for farmers' rights and economic justice. After sustained resistance, the government withdrew the laws in November 2021.
#Oxygen
More Panic than Pandemic?
My work has been published on
First Post India, SRF News,
Suedostschweiz/La Quotidiana.
Visual Reportage & Photo Essays
Unlike the stories we love to hear, this one ends again worst for the most vulnerable. For the poor and the even poorer, the discriminated and the outcast, the forgotten and the oppressed. The blows that these groups are receiving, are not only the consequences of the panic caused by the scaremongering of a global pandemic, which in contrast to politics does not know human-made borders, but the result of a construct. A construction made of structures that, like a skeleton, aim to preserve a world in which economic efficiency stands above human morality. This establishment, which ensures the unequal distribution of authority and dignity, now becomes visible as its facade is shaken off by a health crisis, and the muddy realities hidden beneath are increasingly being exposed. In the current health crisis, India is one of the countries at the forefront to win a prize for the most shocking exposure scene. Besides the Corona spectacle, rivalries between political parties are cutting off the air, while the media sentences the people’s voices.
While those who didn’t have a good enough reason to leave their own four walls, a journalist colleague and I were out and about. We joined Mohammad Azeem and Aadil Farooq Siddiqui, who voluntarily started a free ambulance service for those who ran out of oxygen. With their self-made ambulance, they drove for days through India’s capital and beyond, desperately searching for intensive care beds and oxygen cylinders. The crux of the story? There were no beds and no supply. Not for those who cannot afford the health service, and available beds in private hospitals. While individuals, such as Azeem and Siddiqui were on their own to deal with a panicking nation, there were truckloads of oxygen cylinders that were held at the borders of New Delhi. Sadly, their journey sometimes ended at the cremation ground.
* Mohammad Azeem lost his 3-year-old daughter a few years before the pandemic due to lack of oxygen in the hospital.
No rest for days © Lara Lone, 2021
Aadil and Azeem check the oxygen cylinder flow meter before entering another patient‘s home in Jasola Vihar, New Delhi © Lara Lone, 2021
Every 30 seconds another call from someone in need of an ICU bed © Lara Lone, 2021
A worker at the banks of Jamna river at the cremation ground in New Delhi © Lara Lone, 2021
Ghee, camphor, sandalwood powder, and incense used for the cremation ritual © Lara Lone, 2021
A worker at the banks of Jamna river at the cremation ground in New Delhi © Lara Lone, 2021
In Hindu tradition, cremation is the most common funeral practice, as it is believed to release the soul from the body, allowing it to continue its journey toward moksha (liberation) © Lara Lone, 2021
After mukhagni )Giving the Sacred Fire), the ashes (asthi) are collected only after a day or two © Lara Lone, 2021
In the Islamic faith, relatives are buried. Mourners say goodbye to their loved ones © Lara Lone, 2021
Counting is pointless. The cremation grounds are overcrowded © Lara Lone, 2021
Saying goodbye as it should be. Relatives have their heads shaved at the cremation ground in New Delhi © Lara Lone, 2021
Counting is pointless. The cremation grounds are overcrowded © Lara Lone, 2021
Unwanted
living under repression and persecution, Rohingya on the run
1.8 Mio
out of 2.8 mio. Rohingya refugees are hosted by Bangladesh alone, making it one of the largest long-term refugee camps in the world.
Documentation
The Rohingyas are heavily marginalized and live in precarious and unsafe conditions, which severely limits their ability to integrate into society. While their condition in countries like Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia are widely documented, less attention is given to the Rohingya refugees registered with the UN Refugee Agency who have fled to India.
Many Rohingya children and youth live in informal settlements where they receive no formal education. Due to a lack of job opportunities, many children are forced into child labour, or are often coerced into organized crime networks as they see no other means of survival.
The Rohingya refugees flee persecution from Myanmar and settle under harsh conditions across countries. They are often not formally recognized as refugees, which limits their access to basic services such as education and healthcare.
Armed clashes across Myanmar have continued to triggered displacement, bringing the total number of internally displaced people within the country to estimated 2.8 mio. Rohingyas. Of these, 1.3 mio. have been displaced since 2021.
Sources: UNICEF, Refugees International, ReliefWeb
Would you like to support the Rohingya community?
Children collecting iron remains to sell after their camp was burned down by arson in the capital of India © Lara Lone, 2022
'How much longer do we have to wait for help to come? We already had to flee from the genocide in Myanmar, and we are not safe here either!' (Member of the Rohingya community in New Delhi), © Lara Lone, 2021
Rohingya settlements in India have been targeted and burned down due to a mix of political, religious, and xenophobic tensions © Lara Lone, 2021
Along with their belongings, most of the refugee documents of the fifty-three Rohingyan families were burned in the flames © Lara Lone, 2021
Children collecting iron remains to sell after their camp was burned down by arson in the capital of India © Lara Lone, 2022
Labeled as illegal immigrants, Indian right-wing factions push for the deportation of Rohingya refugees © Lara Lone, 2021
Collecting what's left – Iron. To sell. Not to buy the latest iPhone – but to buy food! © Lara Lone, 2021
The situation remains precarious, with limited legal protection and increasing threats © Lara Lone, 2021
While India is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention, UNHCR still provides some Rohingya refugees with emergency aid © Lara Lone, 2021
Hate speech and misinformation have incited violence, making Rohingya vulnerable to attacks © Lara Lone, 2021
Collecting what's left – Iron. To sell. Not to buy the latest iPhone – but to buy food! © Lara Lone, 2021
Now what? The lack of protection and rising hostility make the Rohingya one of the most vulnerable refugee groups © Lara Lone, 2021
Many Rohingya families have lost their homes, possessions, and livelihoods due to arson attacks © Lara Lone, 2021