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Gallery
| Victoria Alexander, Ontario |  |
This box contains a complilation of articles from a recent trip to India. I photographed the boy at a saltflats area between Mahabalipuram and Chennai, in Tamil Nadu. His family work as salt harvesters. They walk along in a line with many others though partitioned fields, compressing the sand with their feet. A film of seawater comes across the surface and dries in the sun, leaving a crust of sea salt, which they then scrape off of the surface. It/s backbreaking, hot and very poorly paid work
The shape for the piece is reminiscient of the shape and appearance of a tv set - the only view that most of us have of the disenfranchised of the world. The very fact that these images appear in our homes via the same vehicle that brings in entertainment serves to separate us from belief. We hear the phrase, /Don/t believe what you see on tv./ from childhood. Even when the tragedy of 9/11 unfolded for the world to see, many people could not shake the belief that they were watching something staged or equally unreal.
I have used the layers to further illustrate the separation that we believe exists between us and those affected by war and poverty. It/s transparent but hard and clear. The child is in pieces and comes apart as he moves through the layers, as he is battered by the forces around him.
The bowl is a traditional pinch pot that is used in the Hindu temples in India. They hold oil and a wick, and are lit by praying supplicants. I have placed 5 rupees in the bowl ( .13¢ Canadian). Saltmakers earn about 5 rupees a day.
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