Dialects of Silence: Delhi Under Lockdown

Parul Sharma has caught a unique moment in Indian history, producing a startling portfolio of a locked-down, masked, visored, sanitized, padlocked and disinfected Delhi, almost empty of its people and taken over by bored jawans and preening monkeys. Never has the Indian capital looked so unfamiliar, or so surreal. - William Dalrymple

Dialects of Silence is one photographer’s quest to seek Delhi’s deserted soul during four months of the lockdown as a pandemic ravaged the world.

Look closer.

We see a woman daring out in the city she calls home, capturing the haunting beauty of its historic buildings, sharing the grief of its Covid victims, and celebrating its vitality and courage.

She took thousands of photographs and Dialects of Silence is born out of her intimate conversations with one of the world’s greatest cities during those terrifying moments.