Article of the Week - number sixty-nine - 60 Feet Road

60 Feet Road is in Mumbai; a jumble of improvised dwellings and homes. 

Canadian photographer Robert Polidori chanced upon this neighbourhood, predominantly Muslim, while rushing for a meeting in a taxi. Wondering who lived there, and why, led him to the realisation that he needed to photograph the area. The facades of the dwellings were, in his estimation, the best example of an auto-constructed environment; a place with no building restrictions or central government agency. 

Robert photographed the facades along the road - no-one knows who it got that name - and then stitched the photos together to produce one composite image. In this set of art works (a book of individual photographs and another fold-out of the composite image) the everyday life of the area is shown in colourful and beautiful detail. The apparent decay masks a surprising truth. This part of Mumbai is home to a huge recycling industry making use of electronic waste. 

To see the images and books use this link and then click right or left of the screen to move to the next or previous picture.