Ambulantes (Street Vendors) in Buenos Aires
"Ambulantes (Street Vendors) in Buenos Aires" By Brian Daughton

Get on any bus in Buenos Aires, board a train, or merely walk along the street and soon you will see a sight all too common-the street hawker. On buses they announce themselves in the usual daily litany. ’Buen dia senors y senoras, disculpe la molestia . Hoy les traigo una buena oferta’.(Good day all-sorry to bother you. Today l bring you some great offers). On trains, they pace through the carriages, down the aisles, bleating their wares in a hypnotic monotone pitch…. "helado…helado.." (Ice Cream) .They are the itinerant vendors of an alternative economy. In Buenos Aires they are called ’ambulantes’ and are one of the quintessential features of the daily grind in that city.

Brian Daughton is a freelance photographer currently based in London who has over the years lived and worked in Argentina. One photographic project l worked on while there last year was a series of close up images of the hands of street hawkers and the products they sell. Due to fear of police harassment most ambulantes were extremely wary of their faces appearing in the photos. For me the ‘Ambulantes’ have become a kind of economic barometer, an indication of how well the country is faring and it struck me - since the crisis at the end of 2001 - how many more street vendors there are. It used to be that the typical ambulante was drawn from the poor in the province of Buenos Aires, who came into the city to make a buck. However now, since the crisis, vying with them is a more middle class ambulante from the wealthier ‘barrios’; all jostling and competing for a space to sell their wares. They are a testimony to the fact that many middle class Argentines saw their savings dwindle to nothing during the crisis with many sinking below the poverty line.

Recent reports estimate that there are roughly 11,000 sellers on the streets of Buenos Aires. As the ‘ambulantes’ are unregulated they are technically illegal. The police exploit this and in return for turning a blind eye they ensure their palms are greased. Corruption is rife and most ambulantes pay about 100 pesos a month to the police just for the privilege of selling on the street. An outrageous sum when you consider the average salary in Argentina is roughly 700 pesos a month.

Brian Daughton was born (1961) and raised in the city of Cork in Ireland. On leaving school he studied architectural design at the Cork Regional Technical College. Since 1983 he has lived and worked in a variety of countries including, Germany, Greece, Italy, the UK and Argentina.

In Buenos Aires where he lived from 1990 to 97 he developed his interest in photography when he enrolled at the Escuela National de Fotografia (National School of Photography) where he studied for 3 years under the direction of Jorge Monaco, who is one of Argentina’s best known photograhers. On his graduation he was awarded a solo exhibition of his work. The photographs, which documented in monochrome the city of Buenos Aires (‘A City in Exile’), were very well received in the local press. In fact, since the nineties the city of Buenos Aires has been a constant motif in his work.

In 1998 he returned to London to complete his photographic studies at Goldsmiths College in London where he completed an MA in ‘Image and Communication’ (Photography). On graduation his work was exhibited at the ‘Fink Exhibition’ in Hoxton Square in London. It was in this period that he began producing the large-scale images in colour for which he is better known.

From 1999 to 2003 Brian was employed at Goldsmiths College as a photography tutor and studio manager in the Visual Arts department where he provided technical and theoretical support to art students working on studio based photographic projects. In 2001 he was selected for the Kobal prize at the National Portrait Gallery. Last year (2004) he won the bronze medal in the ‘Photoart’ at the London Photographic Awards. He now divides his time between working as a freelance photographer from his studio in south London and as a visiting lecturer at the Metropolitan University. He is married to Debora and they have two children Andrea and Valentina. In recent years he has begun to work more closely with design studios in London, creating specific images for interior locations.

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