Mumbai is easily the most complex place I have ever been, said photographer Jason Larkin at a cozy visual presentation organized by the Contemporary Image Collective (CIC) Wednesday evening, where he discussed his personal experience with the Indian city, supporting his stories with ravishing pictures.
One of the first pictures show two men dressed in T-shirts, busy with work at a call center, one of India’s current leading businesses.
Another shows a stage filled with muscular, greased men in black slip bathing suits during the popular Gladrags model contest that attracts millions of TV viewers every week.
Larkin was on a two-month venture in the city formerly called Bombay, where he captured the new wave of liberalization and dramatic business developments of the past couple of decades.
This project was a personal endeavor for Larkin who received a grant from the Indian National Trust of Arts and Culture Heritage (INTACH). Since then, Getty Images’ Reportage has picked it up.
The sixth largest city in the world is home to 18 million people. Larkin chooses to focus on the budding and ambitious new middle-class whose salaries already exceed that of their parents.
To reflect on the new Mumbai, he chose to follow two young individuals to explore and, consequently, understand contemporary culture through them. Larkin first met Madu in a hip café on the seaside in the trendy area of Bandra. Born in Calcutta, the 27-year-old Madu moved on her own to Mumbai two years ago in search of a better job, which she eventually found. She is now the head designer at a famous textile company.
The pictures capture her free life, drinking a cocktail out on the town with friends, or walking on the beach in a pretty dress and chic large framed sunglasses. The hip figure of Madu lies in extreme contrast to the women passing her by in traditional saris.
Her parents are worried about her, as she remains unmarried and lives alone. Madu has decided to adopt a child, despite the fact that adoption is unusual in India – only 4,000 children are adopted annually.
The other main subject of Larkin’s photos is 23-year-old Naresh, another product of India’s modern middle class. The self taught web designer is the primary bread-winner of his family. He lives with his parents and siblings in a two-room ‘hutment’.
Larkin captures Naresh performing his daily activities like working out in the gym.
One picture shows Naresh sitting in the foreground, dressed in a bold red shirt, as his disabled grandmother lies on the bed behind him. The picture explains the contrast of the old and new. “Old Bombay hasn’t moved at all, Larkin says.
He displays many pictures of Naresh with his material goods such as a cell phone, gold chain and motorcycle.
The photographer brings up an interesting question. Can a city accomplish 50 years of economic progression in just five?
In one of his photos, a huge orange outdoor ad dominates the top left; a perfect reflection of commercialization and the new consumer culture sweeping India. In juxtaposition, the bottom half of the picture shows a woman carrying something over her head while a young man walks back home to the slums that still exist underneath the shiny poster.
Although the middle class has bettered itself, Larkin presumes that they are essentially the sole social class who reaped the benefits of recent economic boom. He brings to light that in the past five years, the property prices in Mumbai have gone up 80 percent, although 55 percent of inhabitants are still homeless.
Another photo shows a classic red British bus, overflowing with people trying to squeeze themselves in; a clear indication of the overpopulation and the agony of public transport in Mumbai.
According to Larkin, Mumbai shows that “evidence of both the exiting promise and the frustrating impediments to middle class growth are ample.
The final picture shows Madu asleep on a beach after a long night of partying.
Larkin is currently based in Cairo where he is working on a similar project about Egypt for Getty Images’ Reportage.
For more information visit: http://www.jasonlarkin.co.uk/
