We have all wondered how Western people look like in everyday situations, behind the veil of exoticism that surrounds their mysterious culture. Photographer Adam Vaijan has spent years documenting everyday life in the West and the results are a startling mix of the magical and the ordinary. His beautiful shots allow us to see beyond the wall of myth that surrounds Western people and their culture, revealing scenes that are touching in their normality and reminding us that they are just like us.
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| Mother and child in a supermarket. Many Western people shop in supermarkets, using trolleys. |
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| Café. In their spare time, Westerners go to cafés just like us, and drink coffee and tea. |
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| Couple by the sea. Relationships between men and women are quite common in the West. Many couples take walks in the park and along the coast, occasionally sitting down to look at the waves. |
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| Street life. Walking on the streets is common in the West, there are shops, restaurants and cafés and people can see merchandise in shopfronts. |
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| At the hairdresser. When Western people's hair grows, they need a haircut, just like us. They go to get a haircut and often engage in conversations with the hairdresser. |
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| School. Education is as important for Westerners as it is for the rest of us, pupils are taught in classes by professional teachers using blackboards and books. |
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| The workplace. Much like us, Westerners work in offices and other places of employment. Sadly, they also have to attend meetings and pretend they are interested. |
Trollies? Here in the real (US) West it's a cart.
ReplyDeleteThe "real" West? That, right there, is why so many despise the West - because it's equated with the US. #bigworldoutthere
DeleteTssh, US isnt the only real West! Trollies in UK.
ReplyDeleteI must admit that I don't see the problem. Most foreigners I meet are curious about exactly these kinds of everyday activities, just as we are curious about them, and both of those are natural healthy impulses. People all over the world have asked me about "normal" life in America - they would enjoy these pictures and learn from them, as they should. Exotic is not a bad word.
ReplyDeleteExcept the West isn't "exotic"; it's normalized. People are expected to conform to Western standards are deemed quaint, strange, or even dangerous if they don't. You're conflating cultural curiosity and cultural imperialism.
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Deletei lived in Jordan for a while, trust me people are just as curious about western lifestyles as i was curious about theres. It's not imperialism to look at photos of daily life of other cultures! And countries such as Iran that have policies of isolationism makes it all the more curious to how these people live. People are expected to conform to western standards in the west, in Jordan i had no pressure to conform to western standards but had pressure to behave modestly to middle eastern standards.
Delete"Exotic" is, however, an insulting word, given that it often connotes a patronizing fascination with anything "foreign" (often meaning non-Western), much in the same way one would be fascinated by a David Attenborough special.
ReplyDeleteHow on earth is exotic an insulting word in the normal context? You make it seem like its a crime to be interested in different cultures. You do realise that outside the west western people are deemed exotic? What is deemed exotic is relative to where you live. Are we to pretend we are all exactly the same and different climates cultures and lifestyles simply don't exist? Your speaking nonsense.
DeleteTrolleys they are anyway, at least here in the real west, namely Australia :P
ReplyDeleteAs for blackboards - they are a of a bygone era, here in the real west!
"Walking on the streets is common in the West," Yikes, such misinformation will get one killed.
ReplyDelete"The West" is so culturally varied that no one can say "Western" culture does this or that. Walking down the street is VERY uncommon in, say, Detroit MI, but VERY common in Amsterdam. I'm in Seattle, WA and the cultural differences between here and Los Angeles are staggering! I think this post is more centralising on the UK/western Europe as opposed to the US/Canada on the details, but "walking on the beach" and "getting a haircut" I would think are pretty universal... Americans are much fatter, self-indulgent, and sloppier though!
ReplyDeleteIf you feel the need to say "West is not all like that! There are different cultures" etc... you really didn't get it.
ReplyDeleteI get it, but it ain't making me laugh. You SJWs are the worst at humor.
ReplyDelete