Italian photojournalist Alessio Mamo has been courting trouble on social media after he released a series of photos depicting poverty and hunger in India. The pictures come from Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, two of India’s poorest state, according to World Press Photo.
Mamo, in an Instagram post shared by World Press Photo, said that despite India’s economic growth, more than 300 million Indians lived under $1 every day.
He also said that statistically, 2.1 million kids under the age of 5 died of malnutrition every day in the country.
The idea behind the photos was to depict the food that was thrown away in the West, especially during Christmas.
He said that he set a table with fake food and asked his subjects to dream about some food that they would like on their table.
Although social media users have not taken very kindly to the series and have called distasteful.
The photographer has since released a statement about the infamous photos he took in 2011, explaining his side of the story and apologising to the people he might have offended.