DRIVEN: A photographic exhibition

[Guest guest]

DRIVEN is a photographic exhibition that will take place at the India

International Centre from 10-16 March. It examines the everyday lives

of truckers as ordinary people that find themselves in particular

situations, and not simply as 'carriers' of the HIV virus. A short

write up about the exhibition from the photographer is given below:

India has one of the largest road networks in the world and – it is

estimated – up to 5 million long distance truck drivers and helpers.

That's 5 million people leading what are generally nomadic, dangerous

and unregulated lives, working incredibly long hours punctuated by

encounters with corrupt officials and bandits. And they are a group of

people that has been blamed for the massive increase over ten years in

India's levels of HIV & AIDS infection.

In `Driven', has put together an at once beautiful and at

once haunting portrait of the world of the Indian truck driver.

Supported by the NAZ Foundation, which promotes sex education programs

that curb the spread of HIV/AIDS among young males globally, it's a

window onto the subtleties of the truckers' personal relationships,

their hardships, their vulnerability – their sex lives.

We see the truckers in their tortuously uncomfortable cabs on

horrendously treacherous roads; see them fraternising with transsexual

sex workers, or catching an insubstantial snippet of sleep after a

superhuman driving stint, or sharing a joke in an upbeat moment, or

grouped together in sex education sessions. Because in the background

re bleak truths: the rate of HIV infection in India has risen from a

few thousand in the early 1990s to a working estimate of between 3.8

and 4.6 million in 2002; 87% of drivers in 1999 were having frequent

and indiscriminate change of sexual partners; only 11% of them used

condoms.

Speaking of his trip, states: " Altogether I have spent three

months on the road with the truck drivers, many thousands of miles,

punctures, crashes, break downs, nights sleeping on the roof or by the

road side. On not one trip did I have a bad experience with my driver,

his helper or in fact anyone else on the road. Indian truck drivers

are some of the hardest working, kind, generous and misunderstood

people I have ever met. "

But he adds: " The truck drivers talk about AIDS. They know that there

is a virus that kills. But then so does driving drunk and driving

without brakes but they still do it " .

This, then, is a comprehensively insightful exhibition that brings a

human context to an unavoidable issue, and in doing so lifts the

shroud of abstract statistics that so often obscures it.

The exhibition will now run at the India International Center from the

10th to the 16th of March, then we hope to take it on to Kolkata and

Mumbai later in the year. It has been sponsored by the British

Council, SHRC, TCIF, IIC and SEHER.

`Driven' will also feature a slideshow of images, interlaced with

music by Asiatic break-beat mavericks Shiva Sound System. The Spitz

complex also contains a world famous music venue, which will

compliment the private view on 3 September by hosting a Shiva Sound

System event.

All are very welcome to attend.

www.jason-taylor.net

Email: nomad_is@...