Insaaniyat, in an ode to the human bent of the hospitality industries that service craft baking and specialty coffee making, as it exists today, in the Indian Subcontinent. The core ethos driving the making of this book and photo essay was to examine and pay homage to the movers and shakers in our world, with Subko as a case study.

The photographs in Insaaniyat attempt to dissect layer by layer, the interactions that exist between labour, craft, and fraternity. Within, we document the intensely human findings that lie at that intersection.

With respect to labour, the fact that our collective existence is dominated by lifetimes spent at work. With respect to craft, the pursuit of excellence, in glamourless milieus. With respect to fraternity, the dynamics that emerge at places of work, which may metamorphose from acquaintanceship, to friendship, to family.

The photographs were all captured and developed in the analog practice, on 35mm Black and White film. The reasons to do so were numerous, but the outstanding imperative was to mirror the craftsmanship reflective within baking, roasting, and brewing, keeping in mind the slim margins of error inherent to them, and to have that ethos reflected in their documentation as well.

Within the book, we intend to make public the invisible actions, interactions, and serendipities that take place beyond the neatly choreographed, in spaces where bread and coffee catalyze human activity.