Introduction

As a form of ethnographic mapping these photographs explore the culture and commerce of vendors - that of "mom and pop" interests - selling novelty items and alchemy related goods. The objects that surround these entrepreneurs comment on modern consumption, not items that meet specific needs, but commodities that blur the distinction between function and desire.

They function as a community. The vendors and their products contrast with the now generic, often monolithic retail outlets that are the result of global capital. The photographs serve to animate a nostalgic site of capitalist exchange: the fairground, as a market or meeting place.

Petra Watson