Runner-Up

Prof Prasad Boradkar, Anthropology

A Metal Balance

I took this photograph in a workshop in the city of Pune in Western India in a community of copper craftsmen. The photograph shows a balance that is used to weigh metal before it is shaped into vessels. Partially out of view yet visible in the top right hand corner is a map of India, an accidental reference to the location where this photograph was taken. The crafts community where I have been doing research uses a variety of traditional tools—like this balance—in creating a large variety of copper and brass objects. However, over the last few decades, high-speed production and hi-tech tools are displacing their manual processes and traditional tools. For now though, this balance is not only being used regularly, but also serves a repository of narratives of tradition, utility, beauty and craftsmanship.

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