Current Exhibitions

STATEMENT

These photographs are part of a larger body of work documenting the lives of street children in Bombay, made over the course of 1992. The project was made possible by the W.Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography, which allowed me to spend the entire year in the city working with the children. Through this work, I wanted to give visibility and a voice to those who had come to Bombay from all over India in search of a better life, and who remained largely unseen and unheard within the city. By spending time with them and gaining their trust, my aim was to move beyond stereotypes and show their daily reality, including their struggles, resilience, friendships, and strength.

WORKING PROCESS

Acceptance was essential to this work. That was only possible through Mahindra Shinde, a former street child who became my friend and assistant during the year I lived in Bombay. His presence and trust allowed me access to a world that would otherwise have been closed. Through daily contact and repeated visits to different groups of children, I was gradually accepted into their lives. Only then was I able to photograph freely, capturing genuine, unposed moments as they unfolded.

BIOGRAPHY

Dario Mitidieri is an Italian documentary photographer based in London. For over three decades, his work has focused on resilience, conflict, displacement, and the human experience. He began his career in 1987 working for publications including The Sunday Telegraph and The Independent. In 1989, he covered the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing, documenting the violent crackdown that followed. This work earned him the British Press Photographer of the Year award and confirmed his commitment to photojournalism.

In 1994, Mitidieri completed Street Children of Bombay, a year-long project on children living independently on the streets of Mumbai. Published as the book Children of Bombay, the work was recognised as one of the most important photographic projects of the decade and remains central to his practice. That same year, he documented Ayrton Senna’s fatal Formula 1 race at Imola while embedded with the Williams team.

His work has since covered major global events including the Kobe earthquake, the Northern Ireland conflict, the Iraq War, and the Indian Ocean tsunami. More recently, Lost Family Portraits examined the impact of war on families, reaching over 700 million viewers worldwide. His work has received numerous awards, including the W. Eugene Smith Award, the Visa d’Or, and two World Press Photo Awards.