Poverty and Photography

     The week we analyzed photography and the ways we can frame a story was really intriguing.  I decided I wanted to do more research on other photographers who tried to tell the story of poverty.  One artist I found was Stephen Shames through an article by the New York Times that was reviewing his photographs.  According to the New York Times article, it was reviewed positively, stating that that his pictures were able to capture the condition of poverty with children (http://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/30/arts/review-photography-poverty-among-america-s-children.html).  The article argues that Stephen Shames had successfully portrayed children in poverty because he had separated himself from the photographs and had not tried to impose his individual feelings in the photo.  After I read this article,  I decided to look up some of his photos and use a GPP perspective to analyze his photos and make conclusions for myself.  I decided to analyze this photo (6^th photo when you scroll down) by Stephen Shames in following website:http://www.arsivfotoritim.com/yazi/stephen-shames-ruyanin-disinda/.  The photo is three poor children sharing a mattress.  Initially, my first thought was how he had permission to get a photo of them sleeping, and how having a photo of them sleeping portrays poverty.   If I had seen this photo in a different context, I may not have thought it had to do with poverty.  In this respect, it makes the photo interesting since it isn’t the obvious “photo of poverty” that is often portrayed on TV asking for donations.  Maybe the point of the photo was not to present poverty in the opposite way or a way that does not sensationalize their condition.  Through a new GPP lens, I feel as a viewer I’m able to be more aware and more cautious of what story people are trying to portray. 

Save the Children #FirstWorldProblems

After leaving our discussion spurred on by the readings on visual documentation I become interested if there has been any shifts in the documentation of Ethiopia and poverty, as well as whether it has coincided with any actual economic or policy changes within the country. Growing up in southern California, many people were less than knowledgable about Ethiopia in any capacity, with the exception of the Feed the Children commercials that launched at the onset of the drought and famine of 1983-1985. I believe a majority of our class is not old enough to remember this actual timeframe in history, however many of the commercials launched in response to this natural disaster were heavily in rotation for a number of years after an extent of the disaster had been contained and in still play to this day to some extent.

Just for background development, in the case some people did not run into such commercials growing up I decided to try to search one of the archaic commercials. Personally, I still remember the extremely underweight children almost too frail to move being paraded on late night television all too well, as well as their distended bellies that are still the bud of many jokes once people do find out I am from there.

 I stumbled across across a few videos reminiscent of the many videos I had seen. All of the following videos in my opinion manipulate images to a great degree. In fact, one of the images that was included in one of the videos was the Kevin Carter's iconic images from his trip to Northern Sudan depicting the vulture preying over a famine stricken Sudanese toddler from the village of Ayod, Sudan.

In efforts to capture the perfect image whether it is for the purpose to represent the raw moment or to serve as call to action for the viewing public there is to an extent a degree of staging that occurs, which ultimately also equates manipulating the subject. In this instance the subject is the marginalized, the have-nots, the hungry, the sickly, and youth this leads to the question whether this equates to exploitation. When this images are captured we need to also weight out what we are able to live with in terms of at what cost does the image warrant the exploitation. Is the after affect or the desired call to attention worth it?

Another interesting aspect of the videos posted below is the lack of a call to action. We mentioned this in class earlier. The stirring up of all these emotions and sense of accomplishment felt by some for just engaging with the images and feeling like a better person for seeing the depths of poverty that exist. Yes, many of us need to be more grateful for what we have and it does become quiet simpler when you see the less fortunate shoved in your face on your big screen television. However, displaying such images whether they are staged, manipulated, and utter examples of exploitation are even WORSE to me when there is no option or suggestion to viewers to help fix the problem they are feeling sorry for and emotional over.  When we joke about things like #FirstWorldProblems I think we become cognizant of a problem, which is the goal, but are missing the latter half of the goal: the change we are hoping for.

Not too surprisingly, the images today asking for donations for Ethiopia are quite similar. The only representation of poverty that I felt was a stray away from these all too paralleling videos was a film shaped to feel like a documentary. The title, Zewdi The Street Kid, in my opinion does much more justice to the target group(marginalized street children in Ethiopia). http://vimeo.com/27882235

Anti-Trafficking Efforts and Photography

http://www.sfgate.com/art/article/Lisa-Kristine-photographs-slavery-4167748.php#photo-3980832

Take a look at these photographs. In the realm of anti-human trafficking efforts, Lisa Kristine is well known for a collection of photographs depicting modern-day slavery.

This week we read articles relating to the ethics of visual documentation. In The politics of photographic aesthetics: critically documenting the HIV epidemic along heroin injectors in Russia and the United States,” Schonber/Bourgois explain how photos “…might foster critical social engagement through an emotional aesthetic—empathy, horror, awareness, and anger—by documenting extreme levels of social suffering in the heart of the American Dream” (388). Kristine’s article accomplishes this precisely; she took these photographs for a distinct purpose: to reveal to the public that modern-day slavery still exists and to spur these individuals to take action against it.

My PE, Challenging Heights, runs a school and rehabilitation center for child trafficking survivors. In order to encourage people to donate money to their organization, I expected CH to publish pictures of children working on farms or in fishing boats. Once the viewer witnesses this terrible situation, he or she would feel inclined to contribute (via donation) to CH’s cause.

However, CH website consists of no children working as slaves (Take a look here: http://challengingheights.org/). All the photos illustrate children reading, studying, playing soccer, laughing, and just being kids. We often see the stereotypical pictures of African children, who are starving, illiterate, or my PE’s case, slaves. Instead, Challenging Heights does not victimize the children, but portrays them as strong survivors who are working past the injustices they’ve experienced. However, as Schonberg/Bourgois state, is this ‘sanitizing’ the ‘extreme social suffering’ of human trafficking? In my opinion, I do not think so. I think having such photos solidifies the children's identity as slaves...when really, they are trying to move past this label and reclaim a new identity as free individuals with a bright future ahead of them. What do you think? Do you think CH should publish photos like Lisa Kristine's? 

Organization Promotional Videos versus Picture Documentation

In the light of this week's topic about visual documentation, and the power and problems it presents, especially when portraying human suffering, I wanted to share a promotional video for the organization I'm working with (Coaching Corps).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44pTRVsdrxA

I really want to hear what you all think of their portrayal of these low income children and their suffering.

According to Coaching Corps there are over 21 million children in the U.S. living in low income circumstances. The video really attempts to draw on the viewers emotions to make us sympathize for these children and Coaching Corps's cause. What is different about this form of visual documentation versus what was discussed in the articles for the week is that this is a video and not simply a picture. Schonberg and Bourgois go into the great benefits of pictures, but also there drawbacks as they are open to interpretation. The "thousand words" they express could be a "thousand lies" depending on who in the public is viewing the image. That's why they emphasize the importance of context and a small line of description below the image. However with videos, that context is inherently embedded. Thus it is more effective. The only issue is pictures are much more accessible and easier to advertise on a large scale, which videos are a more complex form of media.

So can a technological movement towards videos help correct the faults within the portrayal of suffering through pictures? Or do videos introduce a whole other set of issues in the depiction of human suffering? Is the way this video uses children, music etc. to make us feel sympathetic an even larger wrong or simply a part of the context?

Is There Responsibility in Photography ?

Recently, I have become made aware of a trend of poverty related photography collections. There are layers to the discomfort I feel when it comes to this sort of photography. First, I believe that the individuals being depicted are being exploited for the opportunistic motives of fame, money, or etc. on behalf of the photographer. In addition to the exploitation of the subjects in the photos, many times the excruciating photos stir up emotions and yet do nothing to help this individuals whatsoever.  The only way collection serves any efforts to uplift these individuals from their place in poverty is by making others aware of that their extent of poverty exists.

Furthermore, capturing images of poverty is not a new element of photography. However, in previous years many time the photographer capturing the images was a by product of the surrounding community when it was in the United States. Today, there has been a new trend for what has been coined by some as "white-guy photography." No, this does not just mean that a white man is the photographer. Instead, "white guy photography," refers to the tendency for white individual leaving their life of privilege to move to/ or visit those impoverished areas only to capture these images. While I understand capturing images from a trip or practice experience from another country, I don't know if I support the for-profit use of these exploitive photos. Many times, I have come across the biographies of photographers or summaries about how the poverty image collections come to fruition and all of these "white guy photography" collections have almost identical descriptions. Many of these collections start off as an after affect from a "white guy," leaving his happily content life of well-paying employment for some reason or another to find "his calling" and ends up in photography telling someone else's story, for their own personal benefit.

My concern in this is the lack of assistance these collections gives back to the subjects of the pictures, the poor. This is where the exploitation comes into play. While the photographers are doing their part in making the greater public aware that such depths of poverty exist, the lack of any action plan affiliated with helping the subject is disheartening. I do admit that spreading awareness of this poverty is beneficial, since there are some individuals that would never see it otherwise. However, I am not convinced that their work is sufficient. I understand the social documentary aspect, but I just think that in this day and age that incorporating some sort of assistance is more than possible. Maybe I am expecting a bit much?


I found an interesting article that elaborates on the power of photography to change our views on poverty:

PHOTOGRAPHY CHANGES OUR AWARENESS OF POVERTY


Below are three examples:

Humans of New York Project
A Citigroup Trader Took These Pictures Of New York Prostitutes
East NY and Brownsville

Behind the Bodies of Transvestites and Boxers: A Conversation With Paz Errazuriz

            She uttered the last words I would ever expect to come from the mouth of a elderly Chilean woman. “My latest project is S&M”. Paz Errazuriz, distinguished photographer and artist, was full of spunk and a hint of sass as she engaged in conversation with Francine Masiello, expert on Latin American literature, Tuesday night in Sutardja Dai Hall.  Paz Errazuriz’ collection consists of intimate black and white portraits of those on “the margins of society”.  This includes a spectrum of people such as transvestites, amateur boxers, the last women of the endangered Mapuche tribe, and patients in mental hospitals.  If Errasuriz was not bold enough in choosing her rather taboo subjects, she certainly adds another layer of precariousness by conducting her work during the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, which implemented censorship.  By capturing the images of her marginalized subjects, she gave them soundless voices and preserved their histories during a time when memory was abolished.

             Errasuriz’ images capture a rare vulnerability within her subjects, whether they are a mentally disabled couple holding hands or a boxer about to enter the ring.  Through her camera lens, she dismantles all ego and gives the viewer insight into pure human fragility.  Though her physical work is produced into prints, she was adamant on explaining that much of her work is done by spending time with her subjects and establishing trust before photographing them.  Errasuriz claims that she has never paid any of her subjects to take their picture, and considers most of the people to be her friends.  As a portrait of a transvestite poised on a mattress is illuminated behind her on a PowerPoint, Errasuriz contests, “More than the body, I tried to see behind them.”
             This point alludes to the idea of portraying global poverty, which becomes all the more literal with the GPP minor photo requirements on our PE.  Errasuriz’ insistence on establishing trust between photographer and subject resonated with me, particularly because the women I will be working with in Peru have a past relationship with having their portraits taken.  Because indigenous people in Peru lack access to economic resources, many of the women dressed in traditional clothing in Cusco will have their pictures taken standing next to tourists for a fee, generating meager wages for themselves.  I believe it is important to ask why tourists feel inclined to take these photographs, how they will be used, and if and where they will be posted.  Though photography has become an artistic medium accessible to the every being with a smart phone, the subject behind the camera remains a person with a story.
             The discussion with Paz Errasuriz reinforced the importance of the art of photography as preservation of the memories of those who would otherwise be forgotten.  Viewing the depth of her work allows the viewer to understand the importance of trust between photographer and subject.
             To come full circle, Errasuriz’ previous collections are currently being displayed in BAM for the first time in the United States.  Stay tuned for her future work that she has foretold will include blind people and S&M.