Teju Cole Perfect and Unrehearsed

My favorite photo in Teju Cole’s essay is the one taken in Bombardopolis, Haiti by Alex Webb. It is a portrait because it includes a group of people and an animal. The photo stuck out to me because it isn’t clear the relationship these people have with each other. It makes me wonder if they are neighbors, friends, or just strangers. The first thing I noticed is the donkey’s head. It looks like he is carrying some sort of product. Next I noticed the woman with the blue dress and red scarf on her head. I believe either she or the donkey is the dominant impression because the viewer will most likely notice these two first. She is the most vibrant part of the photo as the rest is mostly beige and too dark to see any color. The man smoking also caught my attention and made me think about how it must have smelled in that moment. With the heat, the donkey, the man smoking, and the box he is holding appears to be a container of some sort of fish, we can only imagine the smell. It also reminds me of living here in New York and seeing so many unrelated people come together in one place. You don’t know where the people come from or where they are going and the same is true in the photo.