Swan Song of the Badlas

Swan Song of the Badlas revolves around the lives of the Badla artisan community of the Indian city of Lucknow and their families, who are struggling to keep the centuries-old craft of Mukaish Badla alive. They execute this craft by inserting metallic wires of gold and silver into the fabric, eventually twisting them to etch magnificent metallic embroidery on the cloth. The craft form that once flourished across the city is now restricted to the bylanes of old Lucknow, with only 20-25 veteran artisans left, most of whom belong to the Muslim community. The project focuses on the harsh working conditions, economic exploitation, mechanisation, governmental apathy and marginalisation of these Muslim artisans, which have pushed generations of artisans away from their craft. Through the lives and craft of these artisans, Swan Song of the Badlas becomes a visual archival record of a craft form and a community that may soon become a part of Indian cultural history.

Swan Song of the Badlas is a photographic series of sixty artworks which holds a particular archival urgency as it documents a dying craft and its last practitioners. Most of the artisans I worked with passed away during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the younger generation has largely chosen not to continue the practice. One of the last two warehouses where I photographed the project has since been shut down and replaced by a cafe and a jewellery showroom. What began as a contemporary documentation has now transformed into an inadvertent archive, one that preserves not only the craft itself but also the stories of these artisans and the cultural history of a city and Indian craft traditions.