C&N Coursework, Context & Narrative Blog, HNC Photography, Part 1: The Photograph as a document, Project 2: Photojournalism
CHARITY – MARTHA ROSLER
“…which political battles have been fought and won by someone for someone else?”
(Rosler (1981) in Bolton, 1992, p.307)
Martha Rosler believed that the social conscience of well-meaning photographers such as Lewis Hine was not helping the social situation because it reinforced the gap between rich and poor. She argued that the need for the poor to rely on the rich for sustenance and social change is not beneficial in the long term and that it’s simply a way of reinforcing hierarchical structures imposed by capitalism.
Is there a sense in which work like this is exploitative or patronising?
Here I look at my own experiences shooting in Nepal – I was drawn to the poorer elements not necessarily beggars per se, and it was great dramatic images that my friends and work colleagues would be impressed by. I avoid “paying for” these pictures because I don’t want to contribute to the industry of organised begging that has happened for example with the Hindu Sadhu who encourage you to take their picture then try and charge you. So in a sense, I was exploiting the people I took images of because the gained no direct benefit. Although I did contribute but purchasing vendors etc – after reading Rosler article I will consider my shots more carefully
Where do we draw the line between exploitation/patronisation and a good cause?
Where do we draw it indeed; Hine’s intentions were to try to do good, and he did not benefit then I believe he was neither being exploitative nor patronising. In mu case I had no intention to exploit or patronise, however, I did because benefited although not with money but “likes”
Can photography change situations?
Although Lewis Hine’s work helped to bring change in the child labour law, these changes were ruled unconstitutional this giving weight to Rosler’s argument of reinforcing hierarchical structures imposed by capitalism. It could also be argued that without Hine, a change would have happened eventually anyway, but it seems likely, as Hine thought, that bringing the abuses and injustices of child labour to a wider audience in a way they could see for themselves the public would demand social change.
Nick Ut’s photograph the Napalm Girl can be argued as instrumental in bringing about political change; given the momentum, it provided to the anti- Vietnam War movement. The exposure brought by the photograph brought with it help Kim Phuc; a well as the Pulitzer price for Nick Ut. Alimurung, G. (2016) and Vietnam: The real war: (2013).
In summary, while the right image at the right time may change the course of events, it far more likely that photographs are just one part of a greater mechanism that causes change.
Does this matter if someone benefits in the long run?
If the victims are benefiting by genuine change – not charity, then it is worthy; if the beneficiary is a publisher then that is exploitation and back into the realm of Rosler’s argument supporting the capitalist hierarchy.
Do you think Martha Rosler is unfair on socially driven photographers like Lewis Hine?
Perhaps, as clearly there are worthy causes that benefit from photographers efforts, but there are also situations where the publisher or/and the photographer are the only beneficiaries.
Rosler’s argument that charity (encouraged by documentary photography) is the problem as it promotes the privileged classes giving of a little to pacify the needy while preserving the class divide, and not encouraging self-help is valid one, if all photographers are trying to manipulate the audience / and exploit their subjects.
If charity was that Hine (and others) brought about it was un-intentional, they are guilty of supplying the elite who control the media fuel to maintain class divides.
2. COMPASSION FATIGUE – SUSAN SONTAG
“In these Last decades photography has done at least as much to deaden conscience as to arouse it.”
Sontag argued that bombarding the public with sensationalist photographs of war and poverty was a certain way to numb the public’s response. She believed that the more distressing images people saw, the more immune they became to their impact; viewers became reduced to inaction, either through guilt or a dismissive lethargy towards making a difference. Sontag reversed this view in Regarding the Pain of Others (2004), but ‘compassion fatigue’ is still used as an argument against war imagery today.
Are images of war necessary to provoke change?
War is a violent way of one regime of overthrowing another or expanding territory – showing your neighbour “who is boss” – in these days they usually “backing” of the United Nation to remove an unjust regime – e.g, the Iraq conflicts.
Do images of these wars provoke change in the Leaders minds who started these wars? Highly unlikely, once a leader makes up their mind to enter into a conflict they are there to see it through to the bitter end.
However, public opinion may be swayed by a barrage of horrific images and as with the Vietnam war, it might be that as part of a weight of evidence the governments are forced reconsider there position. Images of atrocities are necessary to bring evidence at war crimes tribunals and this may be considered part of the change process. Photographs are proof.
Do you agree with Sontag’s earlier view that horrific images of war numb the viewer’s response?
Of course, the first horrific image we see is disturbing and something we would wish to do something about. However, as we see more and more period of time it becomes normal. And sadly this desensitising is seen other areas of the media – bad language is so commonplace now in cinema for example and it almost in conceivable to for us to imagine the shock of the word “damn” be used in 1939 Gone with the Wind.
Also as the numbness of the audience increases the photographers and news editor will seek out images that will be more shocking than the last, just as Horror film directors seek to make there next film even more shocking. However, will this every increasing appetite eventually lead to photographers fabricating or embellishing a situation just to hit the front pages,
3. INSIDE/OUT – ABIGAIL SOLOMON-GODEAU
In her 1994 essay ‘Inside/out’, Solomon-Godeau argues against a binary insider/outsider approach to documentary photography: either voyeuristic and objective on the one hand or subjective and ‘confessional’ on the other. A way forward would be to avoid both these positions and produce work which provides a distanced look at the subject as well as offering some sort of ‘truth’, which may not be the truth. She offers Robert Frank’s The Americans and Ed Ruscha’s work as good examples. She also believed that Martha Rosler’s way of depicting the Bowery was shifting the debate from an inside/ outside one and into the realm of representation, which she saw as stemming from art photography.
Do you need to be an insider in order to produce a successful documentary project?
The simple answer is here is no.
Susan Sontag’s statement that many photographers are “supertourists, …..visiting natives and bringing back news of their exotic doings and strange gear”. (1977) suggests that to be outside of a group is wrong and that by being outside a group you cannot fully understand the truth of their lives. It echo’s Roslers thoughts on patronisation exploitation, particularly if you consider the work of Diane Arbus. However, Robert Franks The Americans and most of the work of Martin Parr would fall under the category of outsiders.
The polar opposite to Arbus is the work of Nan Golden who recorded he life and that of her friends, showing the full scale of drug use, sexual promiscuity and domestic violence leaving nothing to the imagination – there no way she can be looked on as an outsider, her images come from within a tortured soul. Solomon-Godeau argued that Insiders are inherently more truthful and real.
Both. these styles of photography have produced meaning full and thoughtful however either style is only successful I the photographer is true to there own ethics and ideals
Bibliography
Alimurung, G. (2014). Nick Ut’s Napalm Girl Helped End the Vietnam War. Today in L.A., He’s Still Shooting. [online] L.A. Weekly. Available at: http://www.laweekly.com/news/nick-uts-napalm-girl-helped-end-the-vietnam-war-today-in-la-hes-still-shooting-4861747 [Accessed 20 Jan. 2018].
National Archives. (2017). Teaching With Documents: Photographs of Lewis Hine: Documentation of Child Labor. [online] Available at: https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/hine-photos [Accessed 20 Jan. 2018].
En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Lewis Hine. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Hine [Accessed 20 Jan. 2018].
Npr.org. (2018). NPR: Robert Frank: The Americans. [online] Available at: https://www.npr.org/multimedia/2009/01/frank/ [Accessed 20 Jan. 2018].
Aperture.org. (n.d.). The Ballad of Sexual Dependency. [online] Available at: https://aperture.org/shop/books/nan-goldin-ballad [Accessed 20 Jan. 2018].
La Grange, A. (2013). Basic critical theory for photographers. Oxford: Elsevier Focal Press.
Sontag, S. (1977). On Photography. 1st ed. New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux.
Open College of the Arts (2015) Context & Narrative: course handbook. (2015). Barnsley: OCA.
Time.com. (2014). Syrian Torture Archive: When Photographs of Atrocities Don’t Shock. [online] Available at: http://time.com/3426427/syrian-torture-archive-when-photographs-of-atrocities-dont-shock/ [Accessed 20 Jan. 2018].