A chance encounter, with the theme of the city as a social entity, provides the point of departure for this work. It appears staged, but both the characters and their props for life and survival were found in this condition. For a moment at least (which has now passed, as the unmistakeable seasonal marking tells us), the cheerful community was authentic. This is nothing unusual in photographic discourse. But in this case, continued footage would show a formatting of socio-political responsibility that could be manifest in the tension between visual representation and the reality that lies beyond it.