alain delorme: totems
totem #8 all images © alain delorme
alain delorme: totems magda danysz gallery, paris september 4th to 25th, 2010
french photographer alain delorme‘s newest series of photographs is entitled ‘totems’. the images were captured during two art residencies (supported by ailing foundation) de lorme participated in shanghai throughout 2009 and 2010. fascinated by migrants’ loads, he has photographed piles of stacked ‘made in china’ products which form unusual sculptures, symbols of a form of fetishization of the objects themselves. the verticality of these formations echoes the incessant expansion of the urban area, constantly under construction. here, de lorme gives a new vision full of humor and poetry of those porters – both super heroes and ants with impressive loads of tires, water containers, office chairs, flowers… distanced from the typical photos of china portraying immense crowds, he has focused on the individuality of these workers, as opposed to all those identical and interchangeable objects.
totem #2
photography historian, raphaële bertho writes about totems: ‘these workers carry throughout the city unbelievable piles. these precarious columns made of cardboard, chairs, bottles or tires appear as the new totems of a society in complete transformation, both a factory for the world and a new el dorado of the market economy.’
totem #5
totem #15
totem #13
totem #4
totem #7
totem #12
totem #1
l-r: totem #3 and totem #9
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more commentsCameras lie and so do photographers. Of course it matters if these are fake or not. Look at all of the writers lately who have been completely discredited because of fabrications that were not necessary to make their case. It would have been harder to find people carrying incredible loads–to do it in Photoshop is just lazy.
http://visualpeacemakers.org/index.php?/galleries/entry/how_they_do_it_in_china_without_photoshop/
fake or real.. i love it.
To all the “techy” criticism: Take a critical theory course.
Pardon me, while tricycles can be seen all around China carrying a lot of stuff but these photos are a result of photoshop.
It is ok if the creator wants to ave some fun – but please do not make people believe that these are real photos.
love it!
Nice but fake, all balance of load against physical laws
Are these photo montage?
Some of the shadows don´t seem to be real:(
and the first one with flowers?
on the bike? no tricycle?
Can You make it? “)
Very interesting images.
We always like to see what we want to see.