Photography | Street Economy

A photo-series by Andre Swart

In Edition 18 of Ja. magazine, we featured an image by photographer Andre Swart from his ongoing photo-series Street Economy. Find out more about the series and Swart’s practice in his own words below.

“I am a Durban based photographer with a slight obsession with documenting many things Durban.

This documentation process mostly happens on 35mm film. Kodak TriX and Ilford HP5. Depends on what is available at the time.

Most of the negatives will be scanned, and many of them will eventually turn into an 8x10 print from my humble little darkroom situated at Studio 3 on The Point.

This series, Street Economy, was shot around 2012–2015, and is an ongoing project. The aim behind this project is really a personal exploration of the Durban CBD, and to give viewers a minuscule look into the day-to-day lives of Durban’s street vendors, merchants, and specialists in specific fields.

Essentially, there is no major need to support large-scale re-sellers/vendors, apart from the convenience. I hope that this ongoing project will spark some eagerness in Durban residents to go out and explore the city and its CBD, and to support the local street economy industry whilst doing so.” — Andre Swart.

Check out Edition 18 of Ja. mag here — https://issuu.com/jamagsa/docs/wearefree