In the fourth and final photo essay in our series of work in collaboration with the Magnum Foundation, photojournalist Showkat Nanda has been documenting both the hope and the dashed expectations of young people under lockdown during the pandemic in Kashmir
- This work is supported and produced by the Magnum Foundation, with a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation
Having grown up in the troubled Indian region of Kashmir, photographer Showkat Nanda knew what it was to be “a child of conflict”, the name often used to describe the generations of Kashmir’s youth since the 1980s. This picturesque Himalayan region has been a source of conflict between India and Pakistan for decades, with several wars fought over the territory, and since the 1990s it has been home to a heavy Indian military presence and a long-running separatist insurgency with an allegiance to Pakistan.
Yet while it is the militants, soldiers and politicians who dominate the headlines around Kashmir’s troubles, Nanda’s gaze had often turned to the more invisible victims, in whom he saw himself: Kashmir’s children.