Rethink Photography

Rethink Project Proposal

Deambulaciónes Nocturnas

Arianne Clement

Context: in Colombia, the development of a consumer society has led to a rapid escalation in the amount of material that is thrown away. The informal salvaging of garbage represents a profitable solution to the problems caused by a high rate of unemployment, waste disposal systems and environmental pollution. Despite the controversy surrounding the work of a recycler, this occupation nevertheless plays an important role in the economy of the country. Even though it is not feasible to determine the exact number of recyclers in Bogotá, we do know that a significant number of families in fact depend on this type of activity for their survival.

I encountered Ben one evening while strolling in the Barrancas District, a popular locale north of the city of Bogotá in Colombia. He approached me trying to sell a plastic doll’s head that he had found someplace in the neighbourhood that same evening. Like thousands of people in Bogotá, Ben searches for objects discarded by others in order to bring home a few pesos. He walks along the railway, rummages through garbage bins and scans the ditches looking for objects that might have some street value.

We conversed and Ben promptly confided in me with sincerity and candour. He shared his past, anecdotes, songs and jokes with me. This man kindled in me an interest much more for his simplicity than for the social and political questions raised by his occupation. He enthusiastically agreed to let me take a portrait photograph of him as well as to record our conversation. We wandered through Barrancas for the better part of the night while trying to sell with no success the doll’s head to the rare passersby that we met on that rainy evening.

Through my photographs, I wanted to show the closeness that I shared with Ben and to demonstrate my fascination with this simple, noble and sometimes crazy man who lives his modest life to the absolute fullest. Through this project, I attempted to appeal to the senses and the emotions to depict the everyday life of a generally happy man who carries out an occupation that many people would consider degrading.

I photographed Ben and his nocturnal environment by using simple photographic techniques such as long exposure, maximum ISO and subject out of focus. This allowed me to slightly manipulate reality in order to emphasize expression. I attempted, through the aesthetic composition of my images, to express the emotional weight that best represented my subject, while trying to retain a degree of subtlety to keep the images open to interpretation.

When titling my images, I used themes that Ben raised over the course of our discussions. I used key words that reflected Ben’s observations and I linked them almost randomly to my images to increase the complexity of his character and to expand the possibilities of interpretation.

Deambulaciónes Nocturnas on the one hand pique inquiry about the pictorial tradition of the documentary portrait. At the same time they also invite the spectator to lose himself in his imagination someplace in the expressionist world where feelings dominate the milieu.



Deambulaciónes Nocturnas