Many expat photographers return to their hometowns years later, rediscover it with the eyes of both a native and a stranger, and turn the subject into a series. That’s what Klaus Mellenthin did after spending seven years in Barcelona, Paris and London, when he found that his hometown of Berlin had become the world capital of dandyism.
It’s also the case for Dave Jordano, who left Detroit for thirty years before returning in 2010. “These photographs are my reaction to all the negative press that Detroit has had to endure over the years,” he says. “I wanted to see for myself what everyone was talking about, and like everyone else I was initially drawn to the same subjects that other photographers were interested in.”
The first community Jordano documented is the most chilling. A series of women in their thirties pose in their modest outfits. Some of them are disfigured. Others show their pain through their postures, their hands crossed over their stomachs. The 16 photographs are displayed as a whole, in two rows spaced barely 5 cm apart. Seeing the downcast eyes of these sad women, one wonders what happened to them.
The exhibition traces the photographer’s rediscovery of the city where he grew up and which defined his identity: “My dad used to joke and say that we had motor oil in our veins… [and] I still believe there is some small truth to what he said.” The first room gathers several characters with proud poses, crossed arms and hard stares we associate with marginality. Little by little though, Jordano focused on the activities that bring people together, beginning with music, implied by the portrait of an amateur guitarist and suggested by the bossa nova jazz playing softly in the gallery. There are also families and other adopted families such as sport and work teams. Helmeted policemen running anti-riot maneuvers in any empty parking lot look like they’re playing American football.
More than anything, nature seems to make people happy. “People gather in community gardens to barbecue and other nice things,” says Jordano. Perhaps nature has the potential to inspire because of its ability to regenerate : renewal is the current credo in Detroit, even if it’s taking longer to sprout than radishes.
Dave Jordano : Detroit, Unbroken down
Until March 21st, 014
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