30 x 30 cm
oil on canvas

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Imtiyaz’s elderly father works in a factory and his mother is a housemaid but they could not earn enough to keep their 5 children. An ’uncle’ offered to take him to Delhi to educate him and send money back home in return for a small amount of work.

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With 20 other children he lived, worked and slept in a windowless room in a Zari workshop, working from 1 pm to 4 am for 50 rupees (around 50p) a week. From this he had to buy his own water to drink. If he made a mistake in the embroidery he received a beating. If he cried he was beaten more.