“It’s not just a landscape; it’s a paradox where waste meets wonder and illusion becomes a source of livelihood,” stated Indian photojournalist Smita Sharma as she took a rapt audience on a visual journey across an Indian town that is marketing marble dust as snow during her talk “The Snow Illusion” at the 10th Xposure International Photography Festival (Xposure 2026) in Aljada, Sharjah.

Sharma revealed a landscape that looked like the Arctic but baked in the desert sun of India’s Rajasthan state. She pointed out how the Kishangarh Dumping Yard, a vast white expanse near the state capital Jaipur, appears like snow but is actually marble ash from India’s largest marble industry. Its deceptive beauty now draws influencers, local tourists, and pre-wedding shoots, while beneath the surface lie toxicity, dust exposure, and environmental harm, she explained.

The photographer recounted her four-year project capturing the landscape that the region’s powerful marble mining association is marketing as a tourist spot that boasts cafes, banquet halls, a hospital and even a helipad. The dumping of marble slurry from the 1800 marble units in the area had resulted in the first dumping yard reaching saturation in 2012, creating a fake Switzerland for those who cannot afford a trip to a place that gets real snow. Running the entire economy of Kishengarh, the association is unconcerned about the health hazards it poses to the tourists as well as the 25000 workers mostly from poorer states of India, she pointed out.

“Maybe this is not just a story about the marble or the environment. Maybe it is a story about us and who we have become,” Sharma observed. “A society where we hide our realities behind filters and create beauty out of decay just to look happy,” she added as a pointed reminder about the frenzy for curated experiences promoted by influencers.

Xposure 2026 held under the theme “A Decade of Visual Storytelling”, runs from 29 January to 4 February 2026 at Aljada, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.