Once the norm, the joint family system might be passé now, but continues to capture the imagination of many, especially outsiders. German photographer Nora Bibel was fascinated by this feature of Indian society and hence took it up for her bangaloREsidency at 1 Shanthi Road in 2014. The project called “Family Comes First” was a series of 44 joint family portraits shot in different parts of Bengaluru and have now turned into a book. The album-shaped book with a bright mauve cover was launched late last month by Nora at 1 Shanthi Road. The book was funded by Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan and has text by Christoph Bertrams, Suresh Jayaram, Nupur Basu and Dr. Matthias Harder.
It has been published by The Green Box, Berlin, which is run by Anja Lutz, a former bangaloREsident.
“In Germany, the traditional joint family system existed maybe 500 years ago — even my family, my sisters, parents, we are all spread out. To find it in existence in India was quite interesting for me,” says the photographer. When she began working, an initial article about the project in an English daily, gave her a breakthrough. “The article had my email address and I soon found mails from people who wanted their families to be featured.”
So, she went around and took a few pictures of wealthy and educated families in their spacious homes. Nora wanted to show that the system is not restricted to class and that is when she started walking around Shanthi Nagar. “I would knock on doors and find joint families living in even one room space. I wanted to show diversity of caste and class in which this system still exists. I found three generations of a family living together in a one room space. They own an ironing shop.”
The pictures are shot in the living room with all the family in an arrangement directed by Nora. The pictures are staged in which people wear a serious look and a stiff demeanour. Nora wanted an old-world feel for her photographs. “They have been shot on a tripod and arranged based on the relationship they shared with in the family. It is posed. The long exposure time also make people look serious.”
On the left hand side appear the precise facts about family’s home with the number of living, bed and bathrooms, kitchens, number of mobiles, bank accounts, cars and the like.
In a family of 21, she found just one bathroom and bank account. “I was shocked to learn this but this is the practice in their household. Everybody earns and puts in money into the joint account."
While in some families the system has existed because of it being an old practice, Nora says, in a few it continues for practical reasons to save money on rentals. “But never did I feel that they are doing it out of any compulsion. They all seemed to be at ease with the set-up. There was an acceptability and I asked the younger generation and they said they would rather have people around than private space.” To show the changing nature of Indian family, Nora has also included a few examples of nuclear families in the book.
A few families featured in the book were also given a copy at the launch, which carries a presentation by the author.
