-LANDRY DUNAND-
KABUL THROUGH A BOX an exhibition
LANDRY DUNAND - AFGHAN CAMERA OBSCURA -
KABUL THROUGH A BOX
-LANDRY DUNAND-
KABUL THROUGH A BOX
“Kabul through a box” is a selection of photographs taken by Landry Dunand, using a traditional Afghan camera obscura. A large wooden box with a hole and a lens, the camera requires no electricity and uses light-sensitive photographic paper to make negatives as well as positives. Landry’s cameras once belonged to Kabul street photographers, who made passport-sized photos for Afghans filing documents with government offices. He was so impressed by the technique and images of the camera obscura that he bought one and began documenting the people who live and work in the war-torn city. In 2006, when Landry first arrived in Kabul for a two-year work stint, there were dozens of camera obscura photographers on the streets of Kabul. By the time he returned for a two-month trip in 2010 – shortly after Kabul got reliable electricity and photographers turned to digital cameras – there were almost none left. Landry explores this disappearing form of photography that requires seconds-long exposures and hours in the darkroom. Each image is unique.
Serie
Portraits In a country where electricity was once scarce, the camera obscura guaranteed an image in a few minutes time, with no need for “city power� or a generator.
Plate 1 Popcorn Maker
Plate 2 Baryta paper print
Plate 3 Ghost kid
Serie
Workers Many people do still live without electricity, so craftsmen and workers rely on ages-old techniques – sharpening knife blades against pedal-cranked wheels, and hauling enormous loads on rickshaw-style wooden carts.
Plate4
Plate 5
Whasher - 2010
Buzkashi Rider - 2008
Plate 11 Positive process
b.
each image is unique
c,
d,
e,
b. Under exposed c. Not clear d. Out of focus e. Final
Serie
Children At a circus school in western Kabul and in the old city, girls and boys chased Landry, yelling, “Uncle, photo, photo!� excited to have their pictures taken. The girls often move, dashing in and out of the photos, because in Afghan culture, it is improper for a girl to have her picture taken by a man who is not a relative.
Plate 6
Plate 7
Through the window
Circus girl
Plate 8 Laughing Girl
Plate9 Masked Gang
La Fete ,Bangkok
-LANDRY DUNAND-
KABUL THROUGH A BOX Press
Photography
KaBul throuGh a BoX
landry dunand 15 >> 29 march
lanDry DunanD is a young french
artist based in Bangkok. as he prepares for a journey from kabul to france (departing in 2011), landry has been documenting his time in kabul focusing on intimate portraits with his afghan pinhole camera. while most images coming out of afghanistan focus on the conflict, landry wanted to give a glimpse of the people who live and work in the city - to show how life continues through the strained backdrop of war.
7
Afghan Scene - Kabul
© landry dunand
Gavroche Bangkok
a Pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens and with a single small aperture — effectively a light-proof box with a small hole in one side. light from a scene passes through this single point and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box, on paper negatives. It used to be the camera of street photographers to take passport-sized photos for afghans who were filing official papers with the government. In a country where electricity was once scarce, the pinhole camera guaranteed an image in a few minutes time, with no need for “city power” or a generator. In 2006, when landry first arrived in Kabul, there were dozens of pinhole camera photographers on the streets of Kabul. By the time he returned for a two-month trip in 2010 – shortly after Kabul got reliable electricity – there were almost none left.
© landry dunand
© landry dunand
-WEBSITES-
www.afghancamera.blogspot.com www.flickr.com/photos/afghancamera
-CONTACT-
landrydunand@gmail.com