Written by Olivia Young

Photo Edited by Christiana Nelson

In This Golden Mile, Kavi Pujara photographs the transitional life of immigrants of South-Asian descent reinventing their identity within English circumstances. Born in Leicester, England, Pujara spent his adolescence a mere ten minutes from the area his monograph is devoted to. The one-mile stretch of road is transformed into a deeply reflective experience as he strings together individual moments into displays of culture. Instead of merely capturing the place’s physical features, within the pages of This Golden Mile Kavi Pujara makes the lifestyles of the people there come truly alive. The community portrayed in these images is one that Pujara felt detached from upon his return nearly thirty years later, so he used photography as a means to rebuild the ties he had lost.

Through his photographs, Pujara displays the bonds created within this context, both in the literal sense and as an ideal. He depicts the unity of a community built through collective experience and immerses himself into the culture he’d strayed from. While describing this practice in the close of the book, he explains: “Letting go of my London life, practicing my Gujarati, listening to stories, and making new friends has shown me that while I may no longer be a part of this neighborhood, I am of it.”

Prefacing these images is a brief page of text describing one of the many Gujarati stories Pujara felt drawn to. It recounts the tale of the Parsi people fleeing Persia to India in search of a more suitable homeland. Upon arrival, the Gujarati king was unable to speak the language of the Parsi people, so instead he presented them with a bowl of milk to convey he could no longer welcome any more visitors. In response, a Parsi priest poured sugar into the bowl as a gesture of coexistence. The broad-scale immigration experience is communicated through this tradition.

The true essence of This Golden Mile is conveyed, not through the community’s central area, but through its inner workings. “This Golden Mile exists in the poetry of homes, temples and street corners,” he explains. “It's down the alleys and through the gaps in steel fencing leading to crumbling industrial plots.” The beauty of the Golden Mile are things that normally go unseen, such as people posed either alone or with loved ones, woven tapestries hung on walls, or collections of religious statues lined upon a shelf. Even simple compositions, such as an image of a worn blue door against faded brick, contribute to Pujara’s narrative.

Each photograph of Pujara’s isolates its subject within a given environment, creating an end result that is simultaneously personal and representative of the community by exposing its origins. Additionally, Pujara uses this method to shed light upon a greater issue, partially in response to The Nationality and Borders Act 2022. Underneath this order, a series of controversial policies were implemented, undermining previously established immigration protection laws. In addition to the voice given to the citizens of the Golden Mile, Pujara also created this project with the hope that it would contribute to the contemporary discussion of immigration into Britain.

To purchase the book, please visit here, and to view the exhibition, please visit here.