edited by Jenna E. Garrett
photos by Arnau Oriol
Artist’s Description:
“Commuters is a series of portraits of Londoners on their way to work. These photographs are taken on the rail line that links the north and east London suburbs to the financial heart of the city.
I find the overground train the most enjoyable means of commuting. Unlike the underground, the windows offer a view of the city and space for reflecting, thinking and dreaming. Photographing from outside the window as a train passes by, the commuters are unable to anticipate my presence or react when I take the picture, allowing me to capture their natural state of introspection and distant thought. To me, such moments are full of beauty, romanticism and also melancholy. I like to think that these anonymous commuters are unconsciously reacting against the mechanic, banal and routine act of commuting by going beyond it.”
Arnau Oriol (Barcelona, 1981) is a freelance photographer and documentary filmmaker based in London since 2008. He undertook a masters degree in Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication. Most of photography work has been produced in the east end of London. He has worked on documentary projects for the Hackney Museum and the Hackney Archives, who has supported part of his photography work in London. As a filmmaker, his client list includes the Woodland Trust and the University of Girona, and he has worked in the Western Sahara, Cumbria and the Peruvian Amazon.
