Life in a South Indian Orphanage – A childs view

The Photograph exhibition is of photos taken by the children of the Illam together with a portrait of them holding their photo taken by Mo Greig, who is a London based photographer whose work is recognised both locally and internationally. She has an MA in visual documentary photography from De Montfort University. Her work encompasses issues around social and cultural diversity.

In a small village in the Tamil Nadu region of India a little bit of magic takes place each day.

The DHAN Karunai Illam currently cares for and mentors 44 children (36 girls and 8 boys) from junior school through to university and gives disadvantaged children a chance to turn their seemingly impossible dreams into reality.

During November and December 2016 Mo spent six weeks at the Illam working with the children to teach them photography and to create a body of work that tells their stories of day to day life in the Illam.

None of these children had ever used a camera before or even a mobile phone. A project based solely on creativity was rather alien to everyone at the start, and then as the time passed they embraced this different way of expressing themselves, which has allowed us to see the world through their eyes.