February 06, 2005
Born into Brothels
I went to see a documentary film last night about how taking photographs can be transformative. Zana Briski , a New York photographer with a British accent, went to the red light district of Calcutta to document the lives of its prostitutes. People there do not fancy having their pictures taken, given that they are thoroughly engaged in criminal activity, so Zana moved in and became part of the community. The children, and there are many, befriend her. Ultimately, she supplies several with cameras, teaches them photography, and sends them out into the bordello to shoot. And do they ever.
The kids have a richly colorful and shocking environment within which to work. Zana conducts classes where they learn from critiques about composition, interest, light and beauty by examining their own work. She takes them to places where they have never been, and they carry their cameras with them.
The children are astonishing. Matured early by the chaos of their lives, yet almost completely unspoiled by its sordidness. They are not the tough little sociopaths that one might expect, even though many of them will be forced into lives of prostitution and crime. Their wisdom, ambitions, philosophical stances and brilliance shine through every moment of this film.
Zana tries to rescue them from grim futures. With incredible effort, she arranges for most of them to go to boarding schools, and they do, and they don't - but they will always have their art .
The film is a compendium of still photography and movies taken by Zana's partner at the time, Ross Kauffman. It's visually beautiful and spiritually moving. Don't miss it.
Photo note: Oh well, I just wanted to get a little flavor of the color and complexity of Calcutta. This is the best I could do in my archives - it's Mexico. I thought the hooka looked vaguely Indian.
Posted by Dakota at February 6, 2005 07:04 AM