Dress Sellers, Kolkata 2023

Dress Sellers, Kolkata 2023In 2023 at the end of three months in Bhutan, Pakistan, and India, I was powerfully drawn to the slums of Kolkata: their rich color, their fascinating characters, and especially their friendly and open people. Feeling both safe and spellbound, I roamed Kolkata's worst slums day and night, meeting hustlers, con artists, thieves, drug dealers, prostitutes, addicts and beggars.. but mostly many honest, hard working people. I saw very little lawlessness

In 2023 at the end of three months in Bhutan, Pakistan, and India, I was powerfully drawn to the slums of Kolkata: their rich color, their fascinating characters, and especially their friendly and open people. Feeling both safe and spellbound, I roamed Kolkata's worst slums day and night, meeting hustlers, con artists, thieves, drug dealers, prostitutes, addicts and beggars..but mostly many honest, hard-working people. I saw very little lawlessness in Kolkata. It’s not tolerated. There are very few Big Box stores and most businesses are neighborhood mom and pop enterprises. If the police catch a shoplifter they will beat him half to death before hauling him off to jail–if they can get there before the neighbors tear him to pieces. 

In Kolkata's slums, everyone is making something, selling something, growing something, raising something...even the children. There’s no patch of land next to a river, a canal, or a drainage ditch without a cow, a goat, or a garden. I saw kids in uniforms walking to school, and then later out playing in the streets. Kolkata's poor are busy parents and entrepreneurs eking out a living. They must. There are no social safety nets. In Kolkata people live with a purpose and that purpose is usually to support their families.

PHOTO PRINTS
Prints are on Hahnemuhle heavyweight (315 gsm) 100% archival cotton “Photo Rag Baryta” paper, using archival inks and archival spray coating. They have a 200-year life expectancy before any deterioration of the print will be observed when stored, handled, and displayed under archival conditions.

CANVAS PRINTS
What is often called “Gallery Wrap Canvas” is a fine art inkjet (Giclee) print on canvas, with printed edges to wrap around a wooden stretcher frame, like a painting. With canvas prints, your print image is still the same size, but given a "wrap effect" around the edges to account for the thickness of the stretcher. Canvas can be rolled and shipped with no effect to the print. Your local framing shop should be able to mount the canvas to stretchers at a fraction of the cost of traditional framing, making for an overall more economical way to get fine art on your wall. The canvas is printed to wrap around a 1-inch stretcher (1.5 inches on larger sizes). Specifications will be provided with your order. Feel free to contact us if you need guidance with your canvas order.

John prints, titles, dates, and signs all of his photos.

CUSTOM ORDERS: For custom orders of prints shipped flat, framed, or as stretched canvas, contact [email protected]