On huge river island in India’s Assam, annual floods threaten local arts

Two women cycle past a lush green paddy field on Majuli, one of the largest river islands in the world that faces continuous erosion of its banks to the Brahmaputra river [File: Subhendu Sarkar/LightRocket via Getty Images]

Assam, India – Makon Kumar’s wrinkled fingers are covered in dried-up clay. She squats on the damp dirt outside her one-room, bamboo-stilted home and spins a pottery wheel – a palm-sized grey bowl – with her left toe.

Inside the bowl is a lump of newly-bought wet clay, which Kumar slaps, flattens and curves into the pot’s base.