Photo Essays

What aspects of a woman farmer’s life remain invisible? Through these photo essays, we highlight the segments of women’s labour that go unnoticed.

In Meghalaya, The Hearth is at The Heart of Seed-keeping

While documenting seed preservation practices within households and community seed banks in the villages of Umsawwar and Nongwah in Meghalaya, Queeneerich Kharmawlong and Ibapdianghun Myria realise that the women doing incredibly important work see it as just an ordinary part of their lives.

Following Women Foragers into the Sal Forests of Madhya Pradesh

For a fleeting window each monsoon, women from the Baiga community venture into the sal forests in the central Indian landscape to gather wild harvest, especially putpura—edible wild mushrooms—that appear for just 15 to 20 days once the rains begin. Kiran Admache and Nidhi K. follow along on a wet July morning, learning about monsoon-foraging rituals as they walk.

“I learned to clean fish from my mother. You have to be careful—the blade must not cut into the fish”

Despite its importance, cleaning fish remains one of the least visible forms of labour in the fisheries economy. Revathi Sunil and Rashmi Sridar document what a day’s work looks like for the women at the Rameshwaram Fish Market in Tamil Nadu.

Golden pumpkin flowers, red roselles, magenta eggplants, and various shades of green everywhere you look. At Kolkata’s Gariahat Bajaar, shaak maashis bring a variety of winter greens foraged from the outskirts of the city.

Flour Power: Women-led Millet Value Chains Improve Local Nutrition

Flour Power, an excerpt from ‘Millet Mantra’, narrates the story of tenacious women entrepreneurs and collectives, and how processing ragi into flour paved the way for their independence, and that of the district’s to better nutrition.

This curation is part of the Woman Farmer Project, a multimedia storytelling initiative led by The Locavore in partnership with the Doc Society Climate Story Kitchen. It aims to build a roadmap for successful collaborations between institutions and innovative grassroots networks who are committed to amplifying climate stories.

The Doc Society supports climate action across the globe by championing independent filmmakers, audio producers, journalists, and artists working alongside impact producers and movement builders to bring more communities into climate conversations to advance climate just and biodiverse futures.