Christian Catafago

I was taking Spanish courses and had exactly one hour before lunch with her twice a week: I decided to spend that noon hour taking pictures of Argentines on the main commercial street of Buenos Aires; Florida.

I would position myself each day at the same corner, at the same hour to register passers by as they would go on shopping during their lunch time. I would be there at the crossroad of paths between clothes shoppers, street vendors, delivery boys, merchandise chariots, lawyers with huge paper files, businessmen going to nearby Italian or meat restaurants, walking money changers, students and retired couples. It is only in 2016 that images of a Detroit street taken by Walker Evans in the series “Labour anonymous” (1946) would be published in a book by the same title and I would draw a parallel between Argentines and Americans looking in parallel at both set of images.

The consistence of weather and light allowed me to concentrate on reading this view I was granted on the society of Buenos Aires. From the low viewpoint the Rolleiflex granted me, I was viewing passerby at mid-rift level. I had set myself the duration of my Spanish courses schedule and a total quantity of 120 films (each bearing 12 images) for this series. As I approached this number, the street police stopped me and requested I refrain from taking more images; It seems I had been detected by video-surveillance cameras doing an unusual activity. I almost laughed as I was finishing by that time my last roll of film.