Photography and words by Stefano D’Amadio

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Mumbai, India. I had only one hour to take photos. Admission not allowed. I picked up fairly quickly that my presence bothered them and made them rigid. I expected, without wasting too much time, their complicity.

I would never have wanted to see my intrusion in the shots I took. The only way around this was to find a way to get close to them. Trousers off and handed over to be washed, with a spotless white Indian sheet hanging off my waist, as is custom…i started to take photographs.

When visiting India you come across these curious washermen on the banks of the river, outside their homes or on the street.

In particular, in the great metropolis of Mumbai we find the biggest open-air laundry in the world called dobhi ghat.

The “dobhi walla”, the cast of washermen, live and work here. They are such competent and efficient workers that, even today, they are able to resist the more modern washing machine.

Inside these open- air laundries the inhabitants wash and iron around 60,000 items of clothing a day, all without the use of machinery and with incredible speed.

For a few cents they spend the day in water scrubbing and wringing mountains of linen which arrive from textile factories and fashion houses.

The long days of work are interspersed with a few breaks where they gather in a makeshift kitchen to cook themselves a meal, chat and have a rest.

This is how the laundry suburbs, known as dhobi, came into being.

It’s a truly unique sight; piles of white linen form the centre piece of this metropolis, hoards of people washing around small fires where the white bath takes place.

And the atmosphere is jovial and abounding in smiles, in  keeping with the character of Indians in general.

Photos © Stefano D’Amadio. A selection “Mumbai dhobi ghats” was featured in Sojournposse’s East Meets West exhibition for Nissan Design Europe during London Design Festival 2009.