Man with open arms
A street protester fills the frame and his broad, open gesture serves as a powerful contrast to the dense melee behind him. He holds the width of the frame in his arms and in doing so, there’s a rich composition that suggests protection, submission, and appeal.
Women and dog
There is an absurdity in a chance encounter between two women and a dog. The dog appears comically featureless so that both it and the woman in the foreground are incongruous in their anonymity. Only the concerned expression of the second woman gives us a clue to any story in this image.
Ghost and shopper
Mortality is the brewing narrative in the next image and there is comedy somewhere in the interaction between the ‘ghost’ and the shopper – he concerned perhaps but more likely responding to the shock of the everyday macabre. The image on the stall holder’s sweater, his mysterious merchandise, and his concealed position raises questions about the nature of his occupation, and gives comic juxtaposition to the two figures.
Man with clothes rail
Echoing the previous image, there is a vanishing perspective, a bag with less mysterious contents, a purse, and the same purposeful journey through the urban landscape. Once again, the narrative is served so well by the city’s layout. The buildings diminish and frame the individual. Another story, but maybe with a more predictable conclusion.
Sleeping man with sandwich
The components making up the next image are mysterious. A guitar, the remains of a glass of beer, and a tightly clutched sandwich form a tragi-comic still life. It is difficult to piece together this story and there seems little concern or interest from the second figure in the image. The absolute stillness of this shot and the detail behind the sleeper is what makes it so intriguing.
Old couple
The figures in this image make a direct challenge to the viewer. Their story of age-old partnership is told through expression and placement. Their gaze confronts the lens and through this we see a story of unity, wary and defensive of the threat that mortality may soon have on their partnership.
Violinist and mannequins
The violinist appears to echo the mannequins next to him. Similarly dressed, expression fixed, he appears to challenge the figure pushing the pram. Only he appears animated and alive, grimly determined at his craft yet connected to the anonymous woman by his gaze. His case sits open on the pavement as a challenge and this is a story which will be repeated with each passer by, foretold by the reflections in the window behind him.
Man with paper bag and purse
A man with a paper bag, a neatly trimmed beard, hat, and boots is set against a vanishing perspective. He appears dignified yet diminished by both the background and the claustrophobic feel the framed building lends the image. More interesting than the contents of his bag or purse, is his place in this environment. He seems both familiar and at home in his urban landscape, yet also at a loss, permanently displaced and a long way from the familiar.
Triptych - cloaked man.
The montage of three images featuring the ‘cloaked man’ is the most intriguing of this series. The cloak, the bulk, the classically defined features, and the carefully arranged hair, lend a thwarted superhero narrative to these three photos. Appearing from nowhere, sitting, then sprawling, the mystery behind this character struck us both as bizarre and compulsive. The barred, prison-like structure behind him adds to the drama. In the first image, the tree provides partial cover and hints at mysterious intentions. In the second, he is reflective and distant, cross-legged, meditative even. The third sees him inexplicably defeated and lost. The movement from standing, to sitting to sprawling is what gives this set of images such a wide and speculative narrative. For me it is the most powerful of the set and in many ways the most telling in the thread of mortality running through this Andalucía series.