Diptyques de Mumbai
MUMBAI, INDIA. NOVEMBER 2017. Arrived there with a lot of images in mind, all my assumptions were increased tenfold by the density of population. 18 million people, even for an inhabitant of a big city like Paris, it's a slap in the face. The urban activity is very heavy, people everywhere, non-stopping noise, heat and smells sometimes nauseating, it is destabilizing at first, then little by little, we get used to it, we have no choice. In spite of this incessant swarm, the Mumbaikars are open and welcoming. Proud of their roots, their history, their country. The cameras do not bother them, on the contrary, they are willing to be photographed or especially to have their neighborphotographed. That does not fail to make them laugh. In a documentary style, I wanted to highlight some of the men and women I met during my exploration of the city. But a portrait alone was not enough for me to transcribe even a tiny part of what Mumbai is. The result is a combination of diptych photographs to put my subjects back into their urban environment.