Diversions, 2010-2012

Living in Delhi between 2010 and 2012, my research as curator for the “Photoquai Biennale” led me to meet with several photo studios and editing labs specialized in advertisement and digital enhancement.
One of them demonstrated me how to – when business or communication commanded it – purge pictures of buildings or urban areas of unwanted people, invasive wires, ugly monsoon stains, leftovers… In the end, such images only present peaceful empty spaces, spotless scenes set under a clear blue sky and an uttermost shining sun. A clinically clean “photography” relaying the concept of what is commonly called Shining India?

From Delhi to Goa, I then took some shots of urban landscapes or locations and entrusted this lab to process them, using its customary digital expertise. Here are some samples of the process showed on a before/after mode.

(*) Organized every odd year by Musée du quai Branly, the Photoquai photography biennial is settling on the banks of the Seine, in the garden of the museum, for a two-month period, to present the unpublished works of 40 non-European photographers.