French photographer Alain Delorme became fascinated with the innovation and determination of migrant workers while on art residency in Shanghai during 2009/2010. A series of photographs entitled Totems, give the readers an astounding glimpse into the unbelievable pressures of daily life in China for these small businessmen.
Regardless of what vehicle was employed to transport goods from one place to another, the overriding impression was that quantity was paramount, where safety considerations were not. Produce made in China and destined possibly for western markets needed to be shipped as quickly as humanly possible, and the dedication of these little Asian transport workers to this ideal are clearly self evident.
Tricycles, Rickshaws and carts were all brought into play by various individuals in the movement of goods, and Delorme went out of his way to capture the most extreme examples of overloading that he could find. How on earth the men involved managed to push, pull or pedal these immense loads defiues logical explanation, yet they do this on a daily basis without giving it a second thought.
Almost sculptural in their appearance, these loads are testament to the thriving economy and the incessant expansion of the urban area of Shanghai, constantly under construction. There is both humor and poetry in the pictures of these porters, with their impressive loads of tires, water containers, office chairs, flowers, and so on, as though the sheer numbers of potential customers for their goods make it unprofitable to have loads any smaller on their vehicles.
We are all well aware of the immense population of China and the overly crowded nature of life in communities such as Hong Kong and Shanghai, but it is images such as those shown here, rather than pictures of vast crowds of people, that help to bring home to the viewer just how cramped, crowded and uncomfortable life must be in these places. Life seems to insist on being lived at too frantic a pace for most westerners.
If we were to see this type of thing on the streets of any city in the USA or the UK, then no doubt policemen would be pulling the person over and giving them a hard time for trying to get so much gear moved in one go, but not, it seems, in these Asian cities where such excesses are nothing more than simply part of everyday life and not remotely extraordinary.
These images are stunning and spectacular, wonderful reminders that we humans can adapt to almost any situation, and that our energies are as boundless as our imaginations. The overloaded bikes and carts of Shanghai streets may make us chuckle in amusement, but they are simply reflections of how we ourselves might behave in a similar situation. Art in everyday life quite unintentionally brought into existence by the need for speedy delivery of required goods in a wonderfully quirky way. Brilliant.
