PORTRAITS
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To walk in the Tawangmangu traditional market is like taking a promenade in an ever-changing lively studio. Camera hanging from my neck, at times with cup of coffee in hand, I slowly stroll between the stalls. At first people take notice of my presence but after a while they go about their business. It is then, that I begin to photograph. Slowly, politely, usually with a smile, I ask permission, I do not hide, I hang around and wait for the right light and for the tell-tale gestures.
The market is my studio, my second home. The sellers, my extended family. . |
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MARKET TABLEAUS
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When I walk around the market, I never know what scene I will encounter. The market is like life itself, unpredictable and full of rituals. At times, because of the light and the way the woman dress, I have a feeling I am in a market in ancient biblical times. Morning soto (chicken soup ) cooking ritual, lunchtime prayer in the small praying room, children with their sticky fingers eating cotton candy, breaking up coconuts, exchanging money and conversation, etcetera, etcetera. And life goes on. A joy for the photographer. A delight for the soul. |
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AT REST
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At times the market can be very busy. At other times it can be awfully quiet. It is then that the sellers lay down and catch a few minutes rest. For many, their day begins at 5:00 a.m. Some travelled from many kilometers away by bus carrying their merchandise. Others are taken to the market by a family member on a motorbike, many walk.
This routine goes on seven days a week for most of them. Returning home at 5:00 p.m. Day in. Day out. |
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Bananas and Barbers
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The market’s barbershop shares its space with the banana merchants. Here fathers bring their children while mom is shopping. Elders get their white hair died in black. Most of them hang around for a chat.
When the barbershop is closed, the woman who bring the bananas from the trucks to this warehouse sit in the chairs to rest and gossip I also often sit down to observe the woman carrying heavy loads of bananas on their bent over backs and listen to the young boy crying while getting his hair cut for the first time. |
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Children and Families
Once upon a time, a father driving his child to school, points to a flock of birds flying above and says: « Ah. The ducks are flying South». The child replies: « Are those birds the same as the duck meat packaged in Styrofoam and plastic that mom buys at the supermarket? In a traditional market, mothers carry their young children on their backs, not in shopping carts. Older children follows their parents between the sellers and the kiosks.
Well protected on his mother’s back, the child listens to his mother's bargaining with the vendors. Kiosk sellers smile at him, he hears the live chickens squawking and sees the chicken meat cut up and wrapped in paper.
In traditional markets, the children get a better understanding of where food comes from and develop social awareness.
Well protected on his mother’s back, the child listens to his mother's bargaining with the vendors. Kiosk sellers smile at him, he hears the live chickens squawking and sees the chicken meat cut up and wrapped in paper.
In traditional markets, the children get a better understanding of where food comes from and develop social awareness.
CARRIERS
- In the market there are two categories of carriers-
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Category no 1 – THE PERSONAL CARRIER
In the traditional market of Tawangmangu, there are no shopping carts. Either the shopper carries on their own their purchases or one can get help from women whose job is to follow the shopper to the different stalls and deposit her client's purchases in a basket that she carries on her back.                   |
Category no 2 - THE PROFESSIONAL CARRIER
The job of these men and women is to transfer on their backs the merchandise delivered by trucks to the individual kiosks. Some older carriers have been doing this job since they were teenagers. I am told that they make « good » money but is this back bending work worth it?. I ask myself. The bags full of carrots or other legumes can weigh up to 70 kilograms.                    |