Saturday 23 March 2024

Dummies


Oded Balilty is a Pulitzer Prize-winning Israeli photographer. Born and raised in Jerusalem, he began his career as a photographer for the Israeli army magazine Bamahane. In 2002, at the height of the second Palestinian uprising, he joined The Associated Press. In 2007, Oded won the Pulitzer Prize for his photograph of a lone Jewish settler confronting Israeli security officers during the evacuation of a West Bank settlement outpost. He lives in Tel Aviv.

From Oded's website and his photojournalism piece Life of a Mannequin: 

"Like in real life, most mannequins begin their lives in a similar way, but each one takes a different path. All begin in factories, like the Lucky Human Mannequin Factory in Shenzhen, China, or Goldsmith in New York, each of which produces tens of thousands of mannequins a year. Some live their lives in glamour on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue; others end their lives in a Beijing junkyard. Unlike real life, they are all shaped the same, according to what society believes are the ideal proportions of the human body."








9 comments:

  1. I must advise contributors to the comments section of this humble blog that I don't charge by the word and neither is there a shortage of pens and paper. Though Ernie and CC's monosyllabic responses are brief and to the point they are not linked to a word saving tariff. What Ernie is, I think, trying to say is that the images produced by Balilty are truly jaw dropping. His photography juxtaposes the life and the lifelike in his role as voyeur. Likewise, CC's 'spooky' is shorthand for all the B-movies, Doctor Who and Avengers episodes we've all seen in the past where these human doppelgängers come to life and terrorise with impunity.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Never thought of it like that before but the life journey of a mannequin in spookily similar to that of real life humans. Some reach the dizzy heights and others, not so much. Great photos.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're not wrong Alyson. Also, it reminded me in a strange way of Klara and the Sun; a great read I'd recommend to anyone.

      Delete