HD Video with sound. Single channel – 2024
07.54 min
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This work focuses on capturing an artistic portrait that could speak about the life of the person through a moving image.
The portrait outlines not just the daily toil, but also the signs of the passage of time that the protagonist bears through his wrinkles; gray, haphazard hair and a frail body with a larger-than-life capability of carrying huge loads across the city. It also ponders upon the seemingly tiny feet in worn out slippers, walking unwaveringly inspite of the weight. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures on the other hand places the protagonist firmly in the social frame, where inspite of the claims of a rising economy, from billions to trillions, he remains where he started more than 30 years ago.
This video is a result of the intense research that Parvez indulged in during the Kaee Kolkata City Lab Fellowship in Kolkata, India in December 2023. He focussed on two market areas, the Fruits Market at Bara Bazaar and the Flower Market at Mullick Ghat in Kolkata. In line with his work on political economy he observed the manual workers who seemed to carry the weight of the entire market on their shoulders. Most of these workers carry all kinds of goods and fruits for years, often their entire lives, while themselves never earning enough to be able to really use or enjoy the very goodies whose weight they bear.
In a system relying on profit making, the conditions of the people in the lowest rung hardly seem to improve, while profits continue to accumulate at the top.
This video was also supported by Fonds Werkraum Warteck pp, Basel
