Patrick Faigenbaum Kolkata/Calcutta Exhibit

The elevator doors open, after heading up to the forth floor in Aperture Gallery. When they open you see light gray floors and white walls. It’s an open space, where open doorways lead from section to section of Patrick Faigenbaum’s work. There are maybe 30 or more photographs spread evenly throughout the white walls. Turning right after entering will lead you to the first photographs where they show images of the outdoors, a trailer, and other things. When you keep walking along through the doorways you start to see more images of objects and people found on the poverty of Kolkata/Calcutta. Patrick Faigenbaum, a photographer from Paris, really captures the strong contemporary photographs while following the life of this artist living in small town of Kolkata.

The subject matter of this exhibit was an artist and her family and environment. Faigenbaum is showing the viewer of these photographs the artist role in her family and the how the environment around her affects her and maybe even some of her art. In these photographs you really get a sense of her everyday life and how she goes about her days. In some of the photographs you can see the beautiful and unique scenery that surrounds the artist and her family.

In one of the photographs you see a man performing in the Santiniketan Express, this is the train connecting Howrah, Kolkata and the city of Bolpur. I chose this image because of its composition and relativity. I could relate to seeing a preforming during my travels around New York City, and I found it interesting how this also happens in other areas of the world. Many aspects of this photo make it interesting. Though it is not completely symmetrical, this image has a very balanced feel to it that makes it very pleasing to the eye. It also has a lot of repetition and pattern through out the image. I enjoy how the leading lines in the image really bring the focus into the subject, who in this case is the man preforming. This image is a great piece of the exhibit.

This exhibition was about a very specific and unique topic, of following the life of a female artist living in the urban environment of Kolkata. I personally believe that this exhibit does has an emotional impact. Looking through the pieces of this exhibit I learned that it is possible relate with the life someone is living somewhere else around the world. That is a message I didn’t expect from this exhibit, and I’m glad I got to learn something new.