Comments on: Photographing Poverty: Realism or Sentimentality?

By: Pierre Claquin

Pierre Claquin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 04:21:06 +0000

I will not disagree about the benefits of gradual education versus “shocking”. Increased awareness about the realities of poverty, getting out of the otherness, looking for what is making each of us part of the same world is what every parent and teacher should feel responsible for showing to children. However I tend to believe that the media have a part of social responsibility in their representation of issues.

By: Robert Godden

Robert Godden — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:24:08 +0000

I agree with Pierre that there has been volumes written on ‘picturing famine’, and more broadly ‘poverty’. Although some of this focusses on the ‘aesthetisation’, the majority looks at power-relations in regard to representation – who decides on the type of photos that are taken and published? There is much criticism of how conflict, poverty and disasters are presented in European and North American media – that the picture is predominantly negative. This is the key – and where I disagree with Pierre – in that we should not be periodically ’shocked’ but graudally educated – including visually – about the causes of such negative occurances, as well as the more nuanced existence of those living in developing countries. It is only through a more in-depth approach that we can escape stereo-types that are demanded by editors in order to supposedly speak to their audience. We need to have a balanced picture of people to connect with them as humans connected to us, rather than distant strangers worthy of our compassion. We need to see what we have in common, not what makes us distant. But photography, and the media, cannot be held responsible for our world view, and education must also play a part in giving us a more balanced and detailed view of the world.

By: Pierre Claquin

Pierre Claquin — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:48:19 +0000

I meant “Photographers are witnesses”

By: Pierre Claquin

Pierre Claquin — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:47:07 +0000

There have been volumes written about photography and the aesthetisation of poverty. 10-15 years ago, it was about Sebastiao Salgado and his “too artistic pictures” of famished people… Unfortunately poverty is still around and there is donor fatigue. In a blase world we need to be shocked at regular intervals, to wake up from complacency and isolationism.

Photographs are (should be) witnesses. When they are talented they produce unforgettable images so we will not forget how the other fifty per cent (more these days as they are the majority world) live (and die).

By: Stan B.

Stan B. — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 02:32:18 +0000

These days, singular images (as the one above) on this subject (and photojournalism in general) are going to evoke criticism from one side or the other, if not both- and then some. And you name a good many of the reasons why- they’re too sentimental, too in your face, too repetitious, too artsy, not artsy enough… And it sure doesn’t help when a specific photojournalistic essay is criticized more for its current art aesthetic, than how effectively it conveys the necessary info of the subject at hand.

There’s only so many ways you can cook liver. Essays photographed over a prolonged period of time revealing a specific viewpoint or storyline will usually trump the sensationalist grab shot when it comes to more honestly dealing with a subject such as poverty- Hine and Riis had it right all along. And until we have radically different technology (as did they, relatively speaking), the formula will not change all that much…

By: Nely

Nely — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 00:45:57 +0000

I love photos on theme “poverty”; it is very beautiful! The compassion teaches the poor people to suffer. It is necessary to change the attitude. I speak: «The sufferings of poor people consist from comparison of the their standard of living with the imposed high standards ‘of worthy life’».

By: GM

GM — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 19:38:08 +0000

Last night, I was accosted by a street kid begging here in Rio who wouldn’t let me pass and then became too “handsy,” especially around my pockets and bag, presumably to see if anything was unbuttoned or unzipped. I shooed him away in Portuguese, while an old woman next to mean moaned about how awful the neighborhood has become. Ironically, about the only thing in said bag was an ethnography of B-zian favelas. Even after writing on Gordon Parks’ kids-in-favela photo essay and spending hours and hours pouring over Bzian street kid photos, my immediate reaction was the same as any common tourist. Shock of the real, indeed.

And, as soon as the moment passed, I realized the kid had been grinning ear to ear throughout, having a grand old time, and was probably as interested in provoking a reaction as in actually stealing anything. It seems such photos aren’t that effective on this academic after all.