Wandering around the web this morning I spent some time reading a call for papers for a conference at Durham Centre for Advanced Photography Studies called "Humanising Photography". (Proposals by photographers, scholars and humanitarian workers due Dec 19th.) The associate director of the center (at Durham University in the UK) is the geographer David Campbell, who has written quite a bit on the representation of war, famine and disaster. Two projects he was involved in are on the web: Imaging Famine and The Visual Economy of HIV/AIDS.
While I appreciate analysis of images of famine and disaster and how they shape the way the public understands the world (Africa in these cases), I am usually more interested in exploring the alternatives to these depictions. It seems to me that contemporary photojournalism is gradually expanding its visual language to incorporate new visions and ways of seeing that go beyond the simplistic, decontextualized, isolated close up image of an emaciated or suffering individual. (See some of the newer members of Magnum Photos like Jonas Bendiksen for example.) However, the most interesting photographs for complicating our perceptions of a place or a people or a situation seem to be those embraced by the art world.
In that spirit, here are a few artists I stumbled across this morning who create representations of places that go beyond the stereotypes and cliches of the mainstream media.
The curator/photographer Akinbode Akinbiyi addresses this issue directly in a short, interesting interview about the Bamako 2007 photography biennial (in Mali). He put together a smaller exhibit of photography, "Spot On: Bamako 2007," from the biennial at the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa) in Berlin. (If you're in Berlin the exhibit is on now until January 11, 2009.)
Check out work by artists from all over Africa (including North Africa and Egypt) by going to the Berlin exhibit website.
Here's a taste.
Sammy Baloji
Baloji makes collages of colonial era photographs incorporated into present-day landscapes. As the exhibit explains: "...in order to understand the present, he reads the traces of the past. He
finds such traces and signs in the architecture of Congo’s state mining
company. Once the Gécamines stood for the richness of the Belgian
colony and the extraction of copper and cobalt was the backbone of the
Congoles economy. Under Mobuto’s regime, however, this sector of
industry was run down because of the lack of investments and the
dictator claimed the profits."
Mouna Karray
"The industrial and harbour city of
Sfax, Tunisia, is the home town of the artist Mouna Karray. Since four
decades, a series of political decisions has led to the point that
public places in Sfax have gradually become non-accessible areas
without any function. The remains of these places, redefining the image
of the urban landscape, are shown by Mouna Karray in her series Murmurer."
Another artist I found this morning is Ahmed Mater Al-Ziad Aseeri, from Saudi Arabia. He is also a doctor and has incorporated x-rays into his work.
Mixed media on paper, 152 x 102 cm
He explains: "It is designed to be like the opening pages to a religious text. But
much larger. Originally the craftsmen would always spend a great deal
of time on these pages. They’re the first thing you see. Instead of a
traditional geometry I have printed two facing X-ray images of human
torsos. I prepared the paper using tea, pomegranate, coffee and other
materials traditionally used on these pages. By using them you ensure
that when you come to paint onto the paper it will have an
extraordinary luminous quality – the paint will truly shine. And that’s
what I want to do with this piece, to illuminate. I am giving light.
It’s about two humans in conversation. Us and Them. Dar a luz. So many
religions around the world share this concept of giving light, not
darkness. It is one religious idea that has reached mankind through
many different windows."