Born into Brothels: Photographs by the Children of Calcutta [Hardcover]

Zana Briski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2005

A powerful story that unfolds in the red-light district of Calcutta: a photographer that becomes a teacher and the extraordinary children she meets who learn to dream with cameras in their hands. Accompanies an Academy Award-winning documentary.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Eight children, all raised in brothels in Calcutta's red light district, display their work-colorful photographs of the family members and strangers who populate their lives and of the streets and homes which they inhabit-in this companion volume to the Academy Award nominated documentary Born into Brothels. While the poverty that these children experience is always present in the images, the photographs diverge from the expected sordid scenes; instead they capture a wide variety of moods and circumstances. The images-from a shot of a young girl apathetically stretched out on a car to a sweeping panorama of the rooftops of Calcutta to a close-up self-portrait of an exuberant girl yelling at the camera at dusk-appear impressively professional. The children capture the textures surrounding them beautifully, often with a seemingly intuitive sense of composition. The film the book accompanies follows the story of Briski's attempts to teach photography to these children, who, she says, have "little possibility of escaping their mother's fate or for creating another type of life," and this volume includes writing by both Briski and the film's co-director, as well as stills from the documentary. Demonstrating the way in which photography can be a means of hope and an "immensely liberating and empowering force," the book gives these children, the "most stigmatized people in Calcutta's red light district," a means to share their often ignored perspectives, while also allowing readers a glimpse into the emotional depths of their lives.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Zana Briski studied documentary photography at the International Center of Photography, New York. In 1995 Briski made her first trip to India, producing a story on female infanticide, and returned in 1997 to begin a project on the prostitutes of Calcutta's red-light district. She has received numerous fellowships, including an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, and awards, including the first prize at the World Press Photo contest. She has conducted a series of photographic workshops with children of prostitutes in Calcutta since 2000. The children's photographs were auctioned at Sotheby's in New York in 2001 and presented in Amnesty International's 2003 calendar. In 2002 Briski and codirector Ross Kauffman received grants from the Sundance Institute, the Jerome Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts for their documentary film on the children of Calcutta's prostitutes, Born Into Brothels. Briski is the found of Kids with Cameras, a nonprofit organization formed to empower marginalized children worldwide through learning the art of photography. She lives in New York. Kids with Cameras is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering children through photography. The organization changes children's lives by teaching them the art and skills of photography on an individual basis, and provides support for their general education.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 104 pages
• Publisher: Umbrage Editions (July 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884167454
• ISBN-13: 978-1884167454
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 9.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #108,443 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Children
  • #80 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Travel

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Powerful, Poignant Companion to the Film, April 19, 2005

By 

David Kleist - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Born into Brothels: Photographs by the Children of Calcutta (Hardcover)

My advanced-placement high-school seniors recently read and discussed George Bernard Shaw's play MRS. WARREN'S PROFESSION, which explores British class structure, the roles open to turn-of-the-last-century women, and the morality of prostitution. Their own strands of thought were largely theoretical; however, after seeing BORN INTO BROTHELS last Friday evening and immediately buying the companion book, this Monday I was able to present some concrete images to my students of the horrors of slum-living and prostitution in Calcutta. The photos here are beautiful, heart-wrenching, intelligent, savvy, and fraught with layers of meaning. It is clear that the lives of these Calcutta youngsters are a far cry from the lives of suburban Americans. One of the functions of literature is the engendering of empathy for those whose experiences are far different from our own. While Shaw's play is insightful, these images from India had an immediate, powerful effect on kids raised more on television and video than on the written word. Ms. Briski is to be commended for her compassionate work and for trying to raise public awareness about the plight of millions of young people across the planet. One can only wish that even more could be done to ease the horrors of the lives of these impoverished youngsters and their families.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rich in Color and Atmosphere Despite the Tragedy of the Theme, August 21, 2005

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Born into Brothels: Photographs by the Children of Calcutta (Hardcover)

BORN INTO BROTHELS is a welcome addition to the books on color photography. Granted these shots are extracted from the award winning film, a feature documentary exploring the sad and at times sordid lives of these eight children born to prostitutes in the red light district of Calcutta, India. But what photographer Zana Briski has captured in richly brilliant colors is not focused on tragedy or the smarmy aspect of the places in which these children live. Instead she has found the beauty in the innocence of these children, living in a closed world without much hope of escape - except through the gracious ingenuity of Briski who held classes, teaching these children how to use the camera, offering a transient glimpse of a world they might never know.

The children are extraordinarily photogenic, but the dazzling colors of the cloths, jewels, streets, glitter and scents from the spices are palpable. This book stands alone on its merits of color photography: the fact that it holds the message it does makes it incredibly touching and unique. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, August 05

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A documentary of extraordinary children born into the most wretched of circumstances, December 10, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Born into Brothels: Photographs by the Children of Calcutta (Hardcover)

Zana Briski came up with a unique idea. Give the children in Calcutta's red-light district their own cameras and let them take pictures of their lives. The result was a documentary of extraordinary children born into the most wretched of circumstances where the girls were destined to enter their mother's trade of prostitution and the boys would join related criminal enterprises. The award-winning film documentary has now produced a unique and extraordinary coffee-table book of photography showcasing Zana Briski's own work in collaboration with these children's photography over a period of seven years. This is also the story of how Briski began holding photography workshops to instruct these children in the basics of photography from lighting and composition to editing and narrative sequencing. Some of these children became so skilled and adept that their developed and developing photography skills could eventually be the source of their emancipation from the lowest rung of Calcutta social and cultural ladder. Highly recommended reading, "Born Into Brothels" would make a stellar addition to academic and community library Photography collections, Indian Studies reference shelves, and Women's Studies supplemental reading lists.