The Great Unwashed and Stumble Asleep
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Photographer Fabien Charuau’s first series, The Great Unwashed, is about the vast mass of men that layer India as one undulating fabric. They are presented as one sinuous form, sharing everything, be it sweat, sex, ideas or disease. As bodies brush up against each other in hot, crowded spaces, there is the inevitable mingling of grimy sweat. For the onlooker, this evokes a sense of homo-eroticism and it is this element that Charuau is focussing on.
His Stumble Asleep documents Indians who sleep on the streets: the travellers, the poor, the unknowns. With a dreamer as a point of departure for each series, the photos reveal dreams that take shape in the heat and dust of Indian streets. With the focus being on isolation, sexual abuse, broken families and the like, the idea behind each dream is rarely a hopeful one.
The Great Unwashed and Stumble Asleep, 2 September to 1 October, Matthieu Foss Gallery, Ballard Estate, Mumbai. For more information, visit www.matthieufossgallery.com
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