Exclusion and Poverty (Manuel Meszarovits)

It’s a great pleasure to introduce Manuel Meszarovits a french professional photographer with a strong focus on social issues (together with a professional wedding photography and portraits activity).

He  highlights his social and humanitarian reports by accompanying the work of associations throughout the world and lately came across Shoot 4 Change and felt to be on the same wavelenght. We’ll work together not only promoting his works (excellent, by the way) but also creating photographic projects and joint initiatives with a social impact.

In the meantime, enjoy a selection of his latest Exhibition, “Exclusion and Poverty” – The unbearable precariousness of human beings (CLICK HERE FOR A GALLERY).

(click to see the Gallery)

We have asked Manuel himself to introduce his work.

“As the human condition of the poorest touches me in particular, I wanted to give a voice to those we don’t hear by way of my photos; to the outcasts, those forgotten by rich and opulent societies. For all those neglected and precarious, who live in a parallel world, almost surreal, unthinkable and above all unacceptable.

Photography is a universal language. That’s why I chose to reflect the harshness of this reality through my lens, to show the inequalities that still remain today. But also to immortalize these incredibly rich encounters in images, where all emotions are multiplied tenfold in their most simple splendor, underlining a humane generosity, where sharing knows no boundaries.

Through this exhibition I would like to pay homage to the homeless, people on the streets, all those that people pass by, but that nobody ever sees.

To all those faces; those men, women and children encountered in the shanty towns of Pnom Penh, or on the neighbouring wastelands. To the families living in sheltered housing by the railway tracks along the Ganges in Kolkata, or those in the poor and removed neighbourhoods of Varanasi”

(click to see the Gallery)

We, then, asked to learn something more about his approach to social photography and his look over what he witness during his travels.

“My first shots were spontaneously directed towards social photography, the main subject being the homeless, the people on the streets….those who people pass, but don’t really look at.

As the human condition of the most impoverished moved me in particular, I chose to orientate my work of photographer towards the difficult social realities in order to convey a personal story of the distress and exclusion”.

In a modern world such as ours, in which society is subject to excessive consumption, the most destitute have been hidden away.

Forgotten and marginalized by the system, they have seen the inequalities accentuated in a complete indifference and their future become even more fragile and precarious.

The wealth of some doubles as an unbearable paradox faced with the needy, the rejected, who struggle to survive and who have to solve the most vital equation in the daily lives: food.

And still today, children, families and adults live in this parallel world where living conditions resemble those of the Middle Ages: malnutrition, undernourishment and homelessness. With access to neither elementary hygiene nor medical care, their life expectancy is cut in half.

Not to mention the refugees, stateless, living in confusion and uncertainty, entrenched in camps to flee wars or political regimes.

Throughout my pilgrimages I have encountered many looks and many faces, but above all many stories.

Incredible, deeply moving stories, made up of distress and exclusion, pain and violence, desperation and sadness, abuse and abandonment, injuries and suffering.

Whether they are here or elsewhere, these men and women lead the same struggle: survival.

Because we cannot forget these encounters, these tangible emotions, these life stories, images pose their feelings to offer an irreplaceable story of these difficult realities. All this in a universal language. One which removes all language barriers and ideologies and reminds everyone of the humanity linking us to these men and women.

I try, by way of my work, to reflect a reality and to convey in a certain way, the voice that society hasn’t wanted to listen to over the years .”

(click to see the Gallery)