SKETCHBOOK
A collection of random images including landscape, documentary and portraiture.
A PIG SLAUGHTER
I spent “Western” New Year’s Eve in a village in the Yunnan Province of China.
Though it’s not a major festival there, the farmers in the village celebrate by slaughtering a pig for a feast with their whole community – about a hundred people.
Many people will find these photographs gruesome, and witnessing the event was indeed difficult at times.
Thankfully, at no point did I feel the process was cruel. The farmers aim to kill the pig quickly with a stab to the heart. Though the struggle is intense, requiring five strong men, it didn’t seem unnecessarily prolonged, nor gratuitous.
Watching the men working hard with their bare hands and basic tools to butcher the pig over several hours, put the soulless, mechanical ease of mass-slaughter in the industrialised world in stark contrast.
OFFSTAGE
Offstage is a collaboration with the dancers of the English National Ballet.
The idea behind the portraits was to show the strain of the athleticism these artists put into performance.
Though their audience witnesses an effortless show of lightness and grace, offstage it’s possible to see them unwatched.
These pictures were taken immediately after each performer came off the stage, some panting, hearts pounding. Sometimes they seemed relieved or fulfilled, but their bodies were still tense from the effort, and their minds remained concentrated.
Often, their focus was uninterrupted as they stretched to stay limber, ready for their next cue.