METAL BAZAAR
by Julien Minard
In South India, at the New Gujri Bazaar of Mysore, I first thought that my photos would only represent workers recycling metal. The sheet iron cut by a blowtorch, black filth, working kids and their bearded bosses: what one would expect of Indian photogeny.
But after more visits, my eyes caught something different: the workers identify themselves with the space they evolve in. With my photographs, I would be able to reveal at least the perceptible outlines. By mixing colors, substances and textures, the series of photos Metal Bazaar question these workers’ identities in this huge workshop in the open air.
The diptych structure adopted in numerous photographs enables to go back and forth between the different components of the pictures: a red beard which echoes the rust of an old drum, a striped shirt referring to a reserve of bars and pipes in a shop, a pair of trousers whose fabric cannot be distinguished from a rusty iron door, a foot disappearing into a heap of hinges… Other photos could suggest an attitude, a pose which perfectly fits an element of the setting or a light mixing up everything: faces and scrap iron.
Looking at these photos, I enjoy thinking that they are a counterpart of some Indian conception of society: if the recycling workers look like their setting up to a point where they almost make one, it is because everyone is in their place, the one made for them and from which no one can move. Unless, like the chameleon, it only means staying out of sight.
______________________________
Julien Minard is a french photographer.
He has traveled several times in Asia and has lived for one year in South India, making photos of the ordinary life.
Personal site : www.julienminard.com
Photoblog in India : www.inde.julienminard.com
bhowmik
I love the split frame shots … can’t explain why also love the earthy and rusty undertones to most of the pics it captures the ambience of the place really well.
Jul 11, 2009 @ 6:10 am
piya srinivasan
your pictures are enchanting. gritty. the diptychs look like they’re in conversations with each other – the boy in chains, the decrepitude of the old man reflected in the abandoned junk heap in the corresponding picture, yet all objects – living and non living – sparkle with the life your photographeer’s eye has infused into their Being. my favourite is the foot amidst the iron scraps, and the portrait of the handsome weather- and metal-worn worker who has blended so completely with his environment.
i read your note, and noted that your pictures attempt, somehwere, to reflect the relationship between cause and consequence, and fatality. but beware of the traps that that world-view upholds. its an easy generalization.
Aug 20, 2009 @ 2:12 am
Julien
Thank you Piya for your very precise comment.
About my note, I would say it is just intended to be one possible interpretation (not the results of an a very fine analysis of the society, which I am not able to do…).
Aug 25, 2009 @ 8:09 am
Penelope Gan
LOVE IT! VERY CREATIVE!!!!
The splits and crops is so deliberate it seems to work. Love the colour and tone as well. Thanks for sharing.
Aug 25, 2009 @ 8:48 am