“We are not ourselves. Why? Because we cannot learn all we know alone, just by ourselves. We are a cocktail of everything we see, hear and touch. So by the time we talk to someone, we become a little bit of the other person. As we move, travel, talk, love and share we automatically influence others. Even if we are born somewhere remote without human beings around, we will absorb from nature, animals, plants and the elements. We are the result of our experience. So we are responsible of what we say or we do, because the others learn too from us.” – Jaime Saez de Adana, The reality is… East is West (2009).
Photo © Zarina Holmes.
I photographed the Notting Hill Carnival’s dancers for Nissan Design Europe’s East Meets West commission in 2009.
I chose the event because it is the perfect melting pot of Caribbean culture that is unique to London.
It is also an antidote to the reserved British stereotype.
Photo © Zarina Holmes
During the shoot the atmosphere was sexually charged, matching the soaring late summer temperature.
The crowd and the processions merged into one, to the rhythm of the sound system music.
If you feel shy or inhibited, the rum helps blur the lines between friends and strangers.
Photo © Zarina Holmes
The carnival dancers are exotic creatures who are very comfortable in their own skins.
They represent a colourful of hybrid of people who make up the multiracial populations of United Kingdom.
Today the Notting Hill Carnival is a celebration of freedom, a far cry its political beginning.
It was started in 1964 as a reaction to a series of racial attacks on the black community.
It is one of the most awaited summer events in the UK.
Photo © Zarina Holmes
EAST MEETS WEST
East Meet West exhibition was showcased during London Design Festival 2009 in conjunction with Nissan Design Europe’s Cube launch.
12 Sojournposse photographers and artists had embarked on a journey from New Jersey to Colombo to “join the dots” from East to West through their documentary images.
Photographer Jaime Saez de Adana wrote the brief “The reality is… East is West”. Poetry “East is West” was composed by writer Hamish Low.
The project took three months to compile, under supervision of Nissan Design Europe’s curator Noriko Furukawa.
References: A Traveller’s History of The Caribbean, James Ferguson (1998). The reality is… East is West, Jaime Saez de Adana. London Design Festival (2009).
Photos © Zarina Holmes. All rights reserved.
