While on a family road trip across India, photographer Matthieu Paley became intrigued by the people he saw walking along the side of the highway, and stopped to hear their stories.
Not all encounters were that spiritual. Some walkers were on the road because they had no other choice. When it comes to mental illness, for example, India offers little support and there is great stigma associated with it. Patients of overburdened institutions are sometimes dumped in the forests of India. They eventually end up on the highways. I met such lost souls. And then there were the victims of what I assumed was rape or child abuse, their vulnerability palpable. They were like walking ghosts—no one seemed to notice them.
Because of the conditions (the highway, my waiting family, the speeding cars) I couldn’t spend much time with each person. I would try to bring some kind of fleeting comfort but I felt tears inside.
Photographs by Matthieu Paley
