Poverty is probably the gravest problem our country has been trying to fight for several years. Approximately 13.4 crore Indians have an income of less than Rs 150 a day, making it difficult to meet basic daily expenses. Hence, when financially well-off people use poverty as an aesthetic and do photoshoots with poor people, it tends to trivialize an actual problem.
People online have been calling out a woman for posting self-portraits on Instagram which were taken at a slum in Mumbai.
“I shot these Portraits to capture the beauty and vibes Bombay city slums carry,” she wrote in her caption.
She also shot pictures with a girl living in the area and went on to give her gifts afterwards.
Have a look at her posts here:
View this post on Instagram
Pictures of her post were shared on Twitter by a journalist and as the tweet went viral, several people slammed the woman for “romanticizing” poverty. Have a look at some of the reactions here:
Just unbelievable! pic.twitter.com/b3VTcrdsnf
— Bala (@Bala__G) September 28, 2021
when poverty becomes an aesthetic 🤡
— Sanaa (@SanaaSpeaks) September 28, 2021
Influencer Barbie be like, “lookit me! I gave a small gift to the poor kid so I could use her to gain millions of likes on Instagram!”
The exotification of poverty is when the privileged think that the struggle of the lower class is aesthetic and could be used for their fashion!
— Sakshi (@MujeSakshiMaano) September 28, 2021
Caption is “..Capturing beauty of bombay slums…” itna jyada delusion and self-centeredness
— ✊ (@addwize10mg) September 28, 2021
STOP ROMANTICISING POVERTY, FFS.
— Dhivya Marunthiah (She/Her) (@DhivCM) September 28, 2021
Making money from poor people and then defending by saying l helped them 🤮
— Sundar D’silva . (@Sundardisilva) September 28, 2021
Hey look at me.. I’m in the slums y’all. Looks great in pictures.
— RedDevil Panda 🐼 (@Reddevil_panda) September 28, 2021
Using people and poverty as a prop for aesthetics? 🙄🤦🏾♂️
— sid (@sidr5wh) September 28, 2021
There is another one who does this. Her domestic help looks so uncomfortable in those videos. https://t.co/9UfEehuukL
— GolgappaJeevi (@DailyPassenger_) September 28, 2021
What are your views on the incident? Tell us.