An overcast early fall afternoon at the Brown stadium, perhaps clearing after a brief shower. The Band waits before at the end of the home stands, then scrambles to center field.
Considered too old to be a war correspondent during World War I, photographer Horace Nicholls aimed his camera lens on the homefront capturing the many contributions of the women who took over the workforce - including the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC)
"During the isolation of the pandemic, I had the opportunity to revisit my archive of negatives and contact sheets from the 1980s, and discovered a number of interesting images that I had never printed. These photographs were made between 1979-1985 in a pre-digital, largely un-air-conditioned era, when people fled the heat of their houses to hang out in their yards and on the street. I notice a kind of relaxed sensuality in many of the pictures. Time moved more slowly; restlessness led to spontaneous play."
"During the isolation of the pandemic, I had the opportunity to revisit my archive of negatives and contact sheets from the 1980s, and discovered a number of interesting images that I had never printed. These photographs were made between 1979-1985 in a pre-digital, largely un-air-conditioned era, when people fled the heat of their houses to hang out in their yards and on the street. I notice a kind of relaxed sensuality in many of the pictures. Time moved more slowly; restlessness led to spontaneous play."
As a young man Marc Garanger had put off his departure for the French army as long as possible, hoping that the war in Algeria, which he objected to, would soon end. When his luck ran out he was asigned a position as regiment photographer.
The French army destroyed mountain villages where they suspected Algerian resistance, transfering the population to regroupment villages - concentration camps. Here the military determined that the displaced people would be required to have identity cards.
"Either I refused and went to prison, or I accepted. I understood my luck: it was to be a witness, to make pictures of what I saw that mirrored my opposition to the war. I saw that I could use what I was forced to do, and have the pictures tell the opposite of what the authorities wanted them to tell.”
The women, Berber or Muslim, had never had contact with Europeans. They were made to sit on a stool in front a wall without their veils, exposing their hair and tattoos.
"In a period of ten days, I made two thousand portraits, two hundred a day. The women had no choice in the matter. Their only way of protesting was through their look.”