Photographer Billy Barraclough: Flowers for the deads. A reportage in a market in Varanasi, India, not so far from the Cemetery
Photographer Billy Barraclough for Lampoon digital in Varanasi: flowers to dress the dead
Billy Barraclough’s story for Lampoon digital is Flowers to dress the dead. A reportage using analog photography in a flower market in Varanasi, India.
Nestled among winding alleyways and backstreets that run through the city, Varanasi flower market comes to life as the sun rises over the tightly packed buildings that border the marketplace. Farmers from beyond the city’s outskirts make their way against the stream of pilgrims, heaving and blowing off steam as they lower their produce down onto the cobbled courtyard. Their parcels are unwrapped and the marigold, rose and hibiscus flowers fill the brick-coloured confines of the market with deep ambers, violets and reds. With each farmer’s arrival, floral scents fill the air and waft over the city.
Following their nose, buyers begin to jostle in and soon the space is bursting with voices and footsteps as the flowers’ best price is negotiated. Sometimes swift exchanges are made and for others, the bartering takes hours with the new owner eventually making their way draped in a deep orange. With each sale, the market begins to lose its color and aroma as each buyer heads off with the flowers they’ll use to dress the dead.
Varanasi – the analog photographer Billy Barraclough exploring the meaning of death for Indians though flowers
Varanasi is a city central to the Hindu traditions of pilgrimage and mourning. Located along the spiritual body of the Ganges, the city has hosted cremations for thousands of years. The deceased are brought to Varanasi from far and wide and as part of their preparation for the ceremony, families dress their relative’s bodies in brightly coloured and scented flowers.
In this series of photographs, traditions of death, relationships with nature, and human emotions are viewed through the city’s oldest flower market. The bright colors of the flowers and the delicacy and form of the farmers are juxtaposed to bring a sensitivity and feeling of life to a process so connected to death.
Billy Barraclough, analog photographer
Billy Barraclough is a photographic artist based in London. Billy is continuously fascinated by the natural world and our place within it. Whether it’s mountain ranges, plantlife, river systems, wildlife or anything in between, he has a tireless curiosity about nature and human stories. He uses photography as a way to explore and learn about the world, approaching projects with sensitivity and making work that blends
portraiture, landscape, documentary and still life. Barraclough is a graduate of the MA Photography programme at Bristol UWE. He was selected by the British Journal of Photography as one of their “Ones to Watch” and is a FUTURES Photography talent of 2021.
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