Mahesh Shantaram's Photoseries Captures The Unseen Lives Of Bengaluru's Gig Workers

In the quiet, neon-lit streets of Bengaluru, Mahesh Shantaram becomes someone else. Donning the uniform and carrying the ubiquitous backpack of a food delivery boy, he weaves through the city, just another cog in the machine. But as the night unfolds and the city hums with the low, constant buzz of technology, Shantaram is not merely delivering food. He is capturing moments — snapshots of a world that is both familiar and hidden in plain sight.

This is 'Tech City Night Work Man', a photoseries that delves into the invisible lives of Bengaluru’s gig workers. By taking on the role of a delivery boy, Shantaram becomes a participant in the very system he seeks to critique. He moves through the city on an electric cycle, smartphone in hand, documenting the people and places he encounters. It’s a world many know but few see — a world where streets are crowded with workers, yet these workers remain obscured, blending into the city’s fabric.

Bengaluru, with its towering tech hubs and bustling urban sprawl, is the perfect setting for this story. A city that prides itself on being the future, yet in its shadows, the ancient structures of class and caste remain. Shantaram’s images are haunting, drenched in the glow of streetlights, capturing moments of exhaustion, isolation, and quiet resilience. His photos are not just visual — they are visceral, evoking the harsh reality of a worker’s life in the gig economy. 

But this series is more than just documentation. It’s an interrogation of power, technology, and what it means to be human in a world that increasingly treats workers as invisible. Shantaram doesn’t stop at photographing from the outside, he becomes part of the narrative. He stages dinner table scenes, where working women invite him — a stranger in a delivery boy’s uniform, into their homes. In doing so, he flips the typical script of gig work, where the interaction usually ends at the doorstep. In doing so, he forces us to confront the humanity on both sides of the door.

The images are stark, yet there’s an intimacy to them; a quiet dialogue between the subjects and the viewer. In one frame, Shantaram sits with a woman who volunteered for his project. The casual composition belies the deeper questions at play: what does it mean to invite a male stranger into your home? What does it mean to be a woman in the city, navigating freedoms and dangers in equal measure?

Through his lens, Shantaram also plays with technology in unexpected ways. Using AI to analyze the images, he relinquishes control over what the camera captures. The algorithm decides what is ‘valuable,’ revealing the extent to which even art can be shaped by the same systems that drive the gig economy. It’s a subtle nod to the way technology has permeated every aspect of our live: transforming how we work, how we see, and how we are seen.

Tech City Night Work Man is not just a photoseries, it’s a reflection of a city, a system, and a moment in time. As Shantaram rides through the night, capturing images in the glow of Bengaluru’s streets, he forces us to look — really look — at the people we pass by every day. These workers are everywhere, and yet, until now, they’ve been invisible. Through Shantaram’s eyes, they become more than just fleeting figures in the night. They become the heartbeat of the city; alive with quiet, uncelebrated resilience.

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