COMD 2330 Digital Photography Fall 2015

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.

The photographic exhibition of Patrick Faigenbaum is exhibited in Aperture Gallery. When I come out from the elevator, I directly see the exhibition in the right side. All Patrick Faigenbaum’s photographs are hanging on the wall, and not a thing is on the floor. Therefore, the exhibition show is concise and explicit, and people easily find out the way to go through the photographs by wall- following. There are about 35 photos in the exhibition, which Patrick Faigenbaum captured the daily life of an artist named Shreyasi Chatterjee, in her neighborhood and the local countryside to  reveal the local culture of Kolkata. So the order of the photographs on the wall is started from the portraits of Shreyasi Chatterjee and her families, her artworks, and then the landscapes of her neighborhood.

I think the expression of people that the photographer captured in his photos is very natural. Compared to most modern urban centers, the pace of life in Kolkata is slow, tranquil, and gentle even through the life quality of Kolkata people is not better the life quality of residents who live in prosperous city.

The photograph I love in the exhibit is ‘Mrityunjoy taking an afternoon nap in the sitting room’. At first, this photo is long shot, and the pose of the man is not only low-angle view point and a strong diagonal line but also create rule of thirds, above the man is the wall and door and below him is the bed; besides that the color of wall contrasts the color of the bed sheet. Secondly, the expression of the man is tranquil, and I like the shadow’s silhouette of the fold of the man’s clothes, which enhance the stereo feeling of the man’s body.

Overall, the exhibition of Patrick Faigenbaum shows us about the local culture of Kolkata through the daily life of people in the neighborhood and the country side.  In there, people enjoy a more relaxed pace of life.