Tom Price England

In 2016, Tom Price created a series of portraits featuring market porters in Asia’s largest wholesale market - Barabazar in Kolkata.

He was initially drawn to these subjects because of their herculean task of carrying implausibly-sized objects through the bustle of a mega market.

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As he photographed these workers in isolation, separated from the throng of their industry, he discovered that many of the subjects had travelled far from their homes for this work, leaving families and familiarity behind in order to earn a living.

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In 2020, Price collaborated with retoucher Featherwax to digitally relocate these portraits into surreal fictional landscapes. This series is an attempt at representing something of the experience of the migrant labourer; the sense of dislocation, the burden of their work and the courage it takes to make ends meet.

Awards

First place, All About Photo awards 2021

First place, International Photography Awards (IPA) in specials category 2021

Longlisted for the BBA Photography Prize 2021

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Exhibited

Helsinki Photo Festival, 2021

Berlin Photo Week, 2021

Treviso Photographic Festival, 2024

Selected features

The Times, NPR, PetaPixel, National Geographic Spain, India Today, Visura.co, South China Morning Post, Digital Camera, News Mail.ru, Xataka Foto, Sputnik Russia/Japan/Moldavia/Kyrgyzstan, Tagree.de, Der Standard, Sapo Viagens, Ria.ru