Waiting Jason Larkin

While living in Johannesburg, British photographer Jason Larkin was struck by the ever-present reality of people waiting. Inactive yet expectant, this condition becomes a visual echo of the predicament that many South Africans can find themselves in. Though many wait alone, the amount of people waiting becomes a collective, city-wide experience. Larkin was drawn to those seeking shelter from the harsh summer sun by positioning themselves in the shade. Figures occupy ephemeral spaces of respite created by the surrounding urban environment. Shadows remove the individuals’ identities, leaving only the subtlety of posture and the details of place. With only the waiting period accompanying each image, the purpose or possible outcomes of these situations is unclear. We are then left to meditate on the temporality of these individual situations and the indirect connections that waiting creates across society. There is dedicated website for the series that features a commissioned collection of new texts that explore the theme of waiting in South Africa and elsewhere, www.waiting.today