India's "Hidden War" Highlighted In Prestigious Photo Award

In Centralia, Poulomi Basu intentionally blurs the line between truth and fiction

Indian photographer Poulomi Basu's book Centralia has been nominated for the prestigious Deutsche Borse Photography Foundation Prize. The foundation describes it as a complex body of work that "uncovers the violent, largely unreported, conflict between a marginalised community of indigenous people fighting under the People's Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) and the Indian state." The PLGA, a banned organisation, is the armed wing of the Communist Party of India (Maoist).   In Centralia, Poulomi Basu intentionally blurs the line between truth and fiction to explore the "unsteady relationship between reality and fiction and how our perceptions of reality and truth are manipulated."   "I don't really take pretty pictures," Ms Basu, who is based in the UK, was quoted as saying by CNN. "I mean, I'm sure they can be poetic. But ... I like in my work for the lightness to go with the darkness."