In the Aperture Gallery, the Patrick Faigenbaum: Kolkata/Calcutta exhibit contains photography from Faigenbaum himself. The exhibit itself contains almost 40 photographs of various subjects, such as people, food, buildings, etc… The exhibit’s author, Faigenbaum is a French photographer residing in Paris, France, and his work has been exhibited before the Aperture, such as the Met. His photos are divided in a non-specific order, mainly showing photographs that were taken in 2014 (and one in 2011), but with different subjects in the photos. The photos are also a mix between color and black and white. The audience is mainly for people who are into photography, spectators who are interested in the subject matter, or students observing his work and learning about photography through his photos.
The exhibit itself is about the city of Kolkata, which was formerly the colonial city and capital of the British Empire in India named Calcutta. The photographs of Kolkata portray the lives of various different citizens living in that city. The subjects range from young to old, and are mainly portrayed in day-to-day lives, such as street selling, playing musical instruments, relaxing in their homes, etc… Not all of the photographs are people; there are also some photographs of food, mainly ranging in fruits and vegetables, and landscapes of Kolkata itself, showing off its streets and fields.
Out of all the photographs shown in the exhibit, the best photo, in my opinion, is “Display of watermelons, neighborhood of Rajabazar, north Kolkata, July 2014.” This photo shows a strong representation of patterns and repetition, as the striking red watermelons are breaking the dark green background pattern and can catch your eye right away. It is also repetitive based on how they’re placed, from either upwards or to the front of the camera. It is also an example of a medium shot, based on how the photograph is placed and taken, and making the watermelons a focal point in the photo. The watermelons’ red colors also show an example of positive space, and the background serves as negative space, which is shown a lot around the photo. Finally, it shows a nice contrast between light and dark, making the watermelons’ red core part of the light, while the background and dark watermelons serve as the dark part of light.
In summary, this exhibit shows the daily lives in Kolkata in various different ways in photography. It leaves an emotional impact that the lives in Kolkata live in a empire-torn city that has citizens going through life in a culturally diverse way. Through music, food, street life, and housing, the exhibit shows that Kolkata can live through life regularly as an empire or not.
You describe the exhibit as a whole well, making a note of some important things like when the photos were taken and that some are in color and some in black and white. The photo you picked Aperture liked a lot too as the gallery used this photo for the exhibit’s publicity. You write about it clearly. It is interesting to me that this photo shows a certain plenty that we don’t see in many of the other photos. The background is kind of grim though setting off the pink flesh of the watermelon. maybe a little like the artist’s work against the poverty stricken world outside her doors.