The theme of renewal is at the heart of my work. People talk about the “new India”, now that the country has emerged from decades of economic stagnation and seems to have so much promise. It’s a very youthful type of feeling. But Delhi is a catastrophe, the very definition of urban hell. The western economic model that India has adopted seems outdated and ruinous. It may have worked for the west in the centuries following the industrial revolution, but such a model is not right for India today – or for any other country.
The first time I went to India was to accompany my sister. She was 18, I was 20 – and right away I was hooked. That first trip as a young adult with a backpack marks you. These days, I travel around the country on my vintage English motorbike, enjoying that phenomenal sense of liberty. The country continues to fascinate, frustrate and excite me.
In 2008, I started taking pictures of Greater Delhi. The section to the east always seemed so dirty and inhospitable, one of those urban fringes people only pass through, trying to ignore the depressing, degraded landscape. This was taken in the industrial zone of Ghaziabad. Power plants in areas like this are among the main sources of pollution around Delhi. Urban expansion has been so fast that these zones – initially located outside the city to protect its air – are now back inside it.
I had been taking a few pictures of the landscape and this refinery. I was pleased with them and was ready to leave, when I saw the boy with the colourful balloons coming from afar, pushing his bicycle. I knew instinctively he was heading directly into my frame. I could see the photo. It’s not always like that, but sometimes you feel the potential, place yourself accordingly and wait. Click, click, click. Three exposures, maybe four. And voilà.
There’s a particular light in Delhi: pallid, grey, dirty. I played with that a lot, shooting in winter, which is regularly foggy and causes the pollution to hang around even longer. It washes things out. So the balloons are a reminder that India is a colourful place, even if it’s a cliche to say so. There’s a magic to this boy with his balloons, passing in front of this apocalyptic factory.
Cities are difficult, aggressive and gross. But there’s a rural exodusin India. The city seems to offer progress, development and comfort, but it’s a mirage. Delhi dreams of being a western city – using Singapore or New York as a model – but it won’t happen in the same way. It’s monstrous and sprawling and there’s no going back. In the west, there are people who want another form of economic development, though. Called “neo-rurals”, they are sick of urban life and are leaving cities to get back to the earth. They’re not the majority, but they’re there.
Johann Rousselot’s CV
Born: Brussels, 1971
Studied: Ecole Supérieure des Arts de l’Image Le 75, Brussels.
Influences: Richard Avedon, Lars Tunbjörk, Guillaume Herbaut.
High point: “Becoming part of the French collective L’Oeil Public in 2001.”
Low point: “All the projects I couldn’t get funding for.”
Top tip: “Never postpone taking a photo.”
- Johann Rousselot’s series Now Delhi is at Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, until 29 January.
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