INDIA - KHUMB MELA
This series was taken in Uttar Pradesh, North India as part of a trip to the 2013 Khumb Mela.
Taking place every 12 years, the Maha Kumbh Mela is the biggest pilgrimage known to man, with around 120 million (mostly Hindus) people travelling from all over to bathe at the Sangram, the sacred spot where the rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati converge in Prayagraj.
The 10th Feb 2013 was the biggest bathing Day at the Maha Kumbh Mela. For many going this journey to the Sangram is the only trip they will take in a lifetime. Even the poorest travel for days from all over India with family in tow, loaded with food provisions and carrying straw bedding on their backs
The Kumbh Mela is also the tribal gathering for sadhus, India Holy men who have left behind the material attachments and live in temples, forests or caves in India and Nepal. Often referred to as 'Babas", they are regarded as "holy men" and rely almost entirely on donations to survive. As part of their daily routine, naked ash-smeared Sadhus follow rigorous spiritual disciplines and sometimes subject themselves to austere, physical practices.
The Kumbh Mela festival lasts about one and half months and demands a huge organization on the part of the Indian state. Vast camps are built over the floodplain with ashrams, basic sanitary facilities, health clinics, police stations and temporary power stations.
After 55 days, the full camp is dismantled and within six months, with the arrival of the Monsoon, the plain is submerged and slowly disappears under water.
Here images are paired together into visual diptychs like the facing pages of a book.