Comments on: Jonathan Torgovnik and Heather McClintock

By: Sijal

Sijal — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:09:20 +0000

The alternative is not no pictures at all, but a responsible attitude to the people the pictures are of. If you want to “shoot” people and use them, at the very least try to know their stories and share those as well. This should be a practice of every photographer, whether at the pool party in san diego or a battle among tribes in Papua New Guinea.

By: Bean

Bean — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:01:53 +0000

Sijal, I think you are right to voice your concerns. The idea of documentary photography is inherently problematic, and to show these “documents” in an art context raises more questions than it answers. But in itself that may be good…whenever I think about the issues you raise I have to ask myself, What is the alternative?—that we don’t see these photos at all? Paying attention to power structures is deeply important, and I think the key is to problematize and explore the issues (although I doubt we can come to a so-called “resolution”). If you haven’t already read it, I highly recommend Martha Rosler’s “In, Around, and Afterthoughts (on documentary photography),” in The Visual Culture Reader (ed. Nicholas Mirzoeff 1998).

By: Sijal

Sijal — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 12:52:33 +0000

Sorry to corrupt the intrinsic value someone may be enjoying from this, but these are victims of context that any authentic humanitarian should be informed of and approach these photos with the intention to struggle for it, to feel its affects, to recognize their own participation and privilege, and reconsider their decadence, at least in some small way.

By: Sijal

Sijal — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 12:46:01 +0000

This is all too unnerving… I am following this “art” in terms of the intimacy, the subjectivity, and the beauty of these pictures. But, I would have to argue that the latter is the most destructive in this situation. One thing people have been doing to somehow propel a human rights mentality in majority American culture has been ‘capturing’ and showing the images of the people who suffer. Look at any lifetime book, National Geographic, and these photos. These sources are notorious for beautiful photographs, but what are the consequences of these photographs for those who are ‘taken’ in them. I argue that photography has a way of ‘fixing’ people, leaving them unscathed , unchanged, preserved, and saved for the western imagination to use or reuse at their disposal, especially in these photographs with such delicate lighting. Apparently these photographs come with a personal account, stories by the photographer about their experience… I would hate to discredit some artists revelatory cultural or human enterprises, but would just like to question the power dynamics being played out in this situation and those that echo it elsewhere in western photography. How is the who that is involved in the making of this art? How are these photos affective? What are the consequences of these photos to all parties involved?

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:59:56 +0000

I think the reservations about these photographs expressed here are unfair. For most people the only way to understand the complexities of the Rwandan genocide or the Civil War in Northern Uganda is by focusing on the personal. Trying to understand a centuries old complex political and national history is different to trying to communicate how this history has affected individuals. For many people, being confronted by the vast history of these conflicts is only going to distance them from sincere contemplation and action. Whereas the personal stories presented in these photographs are more able to connect with the lives of people for whom conflict such as this is an alien experience. I’m not talking about dumbing down the whole story for the masses. I just think that while knowing, understanding and remembering these events in their entirety is important to the future of humanity, maybe our only hope of inspiring people to bring the lessons from these conflicts into their own lives, and so be more able to act in the present and future is by focusing on personal stories. After all, while it was the mass of politics and history that pushed men, women and children to kill each other, it was individual people that murdered & raped, and were murdered and raped.

By: robert

robert — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:37:11 +0000

“Valentine with her daughters Amelie and Inez” – something just doesn’t feel natural about the lighting in this photo?