NZ Visual Diary - entry 394

street distance

I’ve learned from street photographs far more talented and experienced than I that one should, among other things, look for tension or dissonance (comedic, uncomfortable, provocative, etc.) within life on the street and generally in public places.

Today’s photograph poses at least a couple of curious propositions. I should begin with my own interest. While I never have entered any of the haute fashion shops along the northern edge of Queen Street (Prada, Rolex, Bvlgaria, Coach, Dior, etc.), I am attracted to the display windows of said retailers. Those windows are often filled with artfully elegant displays, rich in layered lighting and handsome artefacts, all of which signal how some of us live and express our circumstances.

Today’s entry captures other interests of mine, specifically the barriers — both visible and invisible — imposed within public life by measures of class and race . . . in a word, of our circumstances.

The two gentlemen in the image share commonalities: both are members of minority populations within New Zealand. Acknowledging that I am judging the man on the bench by his clothing, it is probable that both gentlemen are not members of the social class that frequent as customers haute retail stores like Bvlgaria. One gentleman sits outside the store separated from entry by a guarded door, while the other gentleman dwells within, having passed into the store by virtue of his status as employee and not customer.

One stands with his gaze fixed on the street (or momentarily on his phone) ready to perform his assigned duties; the other gentleman is seated, with his back to the store, an implicit statement that his interests (and perhaps possibilities) rest elsewhere.

Finally, I admire at least as much the seated gentleman’s colourful attire as I do the soft glow of the display window on the right edge of the image.

Observation, social distance and dissonance abound.