Honorable Mention in the category « Street Social / Docu Issues »
This series is about the people who work and live in the Koley market, a wholesale vegetable market in Kolkata. Housed in an old structure near a train station, this market's sheer intensity and scale are overwhelming. It is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and buzzing with activities at all times, though the early morning hours seem incredibly hectic. Trucks come in and are unloaded by porters non-stop, and busy sellers are peddling their fare to oodles of people buying for restaurants, hotels, or their vegetable stands around the city. The old market feels like a city in itself as some vendors and porters, living too far away to commute, have established living quarters in the structure's remote (or not so remote) corners. One of the most amazing things about it is the kaleidoscope of colors on display. In addition to the contrasting shades on the walls, like everywhere in India, vendors have developed an interesting technique to make their vegetables look more attractive. They cover their lamps with tinted cellophane to make the color of their vegetables more intense and vibrant. It is eerie, frightening, and beautiful all at once.
BACK TO GALLERY