Hindu Scriptures say a person who commits suicide becomes part of the spirit world, wandering the earth until they would have normally died.

I’LL DIE FOR YOU is a photographic series that focuses on the phenomenon of farmer suicides in rural India. It is not intended as a literal story about the causes and impacts of these suicides, but as a documentation of the emotional loss seen through the eyes of the women who are left behind: the wives, mothers and daughters. The work particularly focuses on the strong bond between man and land illustrated through details from the landscape juxtaposed against close up details of farmer’s bodies. These details were purposely photographed in a way intended to blur the line between man and nature, as to show that in this environment, man and land are indistinguishable – if one dies, the other is sure to follow.

Over the last decade, more than 200,000 farmers have committed suicide in India , where more than 52 percent of the labor force is based in the agricultural sector. This is attributed to severe indebtedness – farmers amounting excessive financial debt from loans secured through private moneylenders or government lending schemes, which they could not repay due to persistent crop failure, leaving them in economic calamity.

There are many social, economic and agricultural reasons forcing these farmers to seek loans. In all cases, the farmers had no other option but to borrow money.

Globalization is one of the main reasons for the failure of so many farms in India . This has opened the market to foreign produce being sold at considerably cheaper prices than Indian grown fruits and vegetables. Unpredictable weather patterns, is another one. Global warming has created a situation where too much or too little rain causing a deadly harvest. Bt Cotton, is a Genetically Modified, insect-resistant cotton that has been sited as a major cause of farmer suicides. Farmers’ loss of Social Standing within their tight-knit rural community is another. Districts with the highest number of suicides, report that farmers borrowed money from private lenders who charge high interest rates (more than 30 percent). When the farmers do not pay-off their loan they endure constant harassment on the hands of their lenders, in some cases physical torture, and are forced to sell-off their land or belongings to repay the lender. The shame of not being able to provide for their family and the stress of not being able to repay the loan eventually culminates into suicide.

Despite the rate of farmer suicides and their documentation across the country, the government has failed to put in place a sustainable program to assist these struggling families. While my project is in its infancy, my ultimate goal is to bring international attention to the plight of India ’s farmers and eventually force the government to make a serious commitment to helping them. I would also like to attach a face to global warming by showing it is in fact a reality and has already had deadly consequences.

The photographs in my series were taken in the village of Amravati, located almost 12 hours east of Mumbai (Bombay), where more than 140 farmers committed suicide in 2009.

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