“What I saw was to change my life. It was an unprecedented scene of chaos. What startled me most was the silence of death. Thousands of people had already died, thousands more than died in the 11September attack on the World Trade Centre. I vowed then and there to continue my work, to do all I could to show the world what happens to people when corporations are not held liable for their operations, when they are allowed to cut costs and safety standards when they operate abroad.” – Raghu Rai

The exhibition offers a unique photographic insight into the human and environmental tragedy that has engulfed the Indian city of Bhopal since December 1984, when an explosion at Union Carbides pesticide plant released lethal gases into the city, causing the world’s worst industrial disaster.

Photographer Raghu Rai arrived in Bhopal hours after the gas leak to find chaos as the dead were being buried and cremated and the hospitals overflowing with thousands of patients. Rai realised he was witnessing a disaster of unprecedented proportions and the start of a long nightmare for the gas-exposed survivors.