In pictures: Africans living in India Published duration 21 August 2016

image copyright (c) Mahesh Shantaram image caption Hamza and Shukura from Nigeria, living in Jaipur, India

In January, a Tanzanian student was assaulted and partially stripped by a mob in the southern Indian city of Bangalore after a Sudanese student's car ran over and killed a local woman.

Shocked by the incident and other similar attacks on Africans in India, independent photographer Mahesh Shantaram began documenting the lives of Africans living in India.

Beginning with Bangalore, Shantaram travelled to the cities of Jaipur, Delhi and Manipal, choosing to focus on students, as they are a small and vulnerable group.

Shantaram's series of intimate portraits is part of an upcoming exhibition organised by Tasveer.

"Each portrait plays a part in unravelling the complex web of experiences of Africans in India that, put together, paint a picture of loneliness, placelessness and a sense of hostility," says art expert Caroline Bertram, in an original text on the exhibition.

image copyright (c) Mahesh Shantaram image caption Ola and Jason from Nigeria, living in Delhi

image copyright (c) Mahesh Shantaram image caption Abdul-Kareem from Nigeria, living in Jaipur

image copyright (c) Mahesh Shantaram image caption Vitu from Malawi, living in Bangalore

image copyright (c) Mahesh Shantaram image caption Charity and friends from South Africa, living in Manipal

image copyright (c) Mahesh Shantaram image caption Ameenou from Nigeria, living in Jaipur

image copyright (c) Mahesh Shantaram image caption Misana from Tanzania, living in Bangalore

image copyright (c) Mahesh Shantaram image caption Prosper from Tanzania, living in Bangalore

image copyright (c) Mahesh Shantaram image caption Wandoh from Chad, living in Bangalore