On Urban Photography: Infrastructure in a Minor Key

Abstract

When walking down a crowded galli in Old Delhi, the pedestrian negotiates rickshaws, cattle, bicycles and crowds. Yet this cramped space has an order. People walk with purpose. A pause means exchanging greetings with someone familiar. Those hanging out in the alleyway or outside shops are waiting… for something to happen, for a deal to materialize, or with no fixed intent. In the midst of the bustle, you hear someone shout “Hai!”. Your gaze tilts upwards to see a macaque clambering up a pipe, then onto a balcony, before crossing the busy street via electric cables proliferating in every direction. At this moment another city comes into view, an arboreal city where space expands via other-than-human propensities and where movement is freed from the usual conduits of mobility.