Michael Putnam New York, New York, b. 1937

Between the mid-1960s to the 1970s, Michael Putnam photographed people sleeping in public in his black and white series Sleep. In the latter years which he developed this series, he suddenly no longer saw people sleeping in public places, and asked himself, “had they disappeared or was I no longer seeing them?” His statement refers to the fact that whether or not we are aware, there are always people who may find themselves in the vulnerable position of sleeping in public. In this photograph of a child in Mumbai, perhaps what is most striking is the location. The child is contorted into a very small position, knee to elbow and foot bent at an acute angle on a median of a street. While the project, Sleep, profiles people sleeping in public, the question of whether this is a choice or a result of a lack of housing always comes to mind. In this case, the vulnerable position and what appears to be the bag the child is sleeping on suggests the latter situation.