Writing hagiography is I suppose the easiest, most reactionary thing to do. Supported by the myth of Magnum, a myth that may once have had some weight, but today relies largely on recycled cliches about the agency’s role and impact, the writer can just easily close thought, avoid analysis. And this is what is offered to us here in a piece in The Independent called ‘Young Magnum: The Hotshots Ready To Take Their Place In History’. Though remains unclear to me why any of these four photographers are the ‘hot shots’ they are labelled to be – probably only because they are Magnum nominees and that associated guarantees your seriousness and lavish praise. Be that as it may, – these are subjective opinions, what really confuses me is the consistent presentation of photography and photographers by depoliticizing their work by de-contextualizing it. Details »
The Spinning Head
A Photographer Confronts His World
Repost: This Land Called Gaza – A Love and A Curse
This post was originally written in the aftermath of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in 2008 / 2009. As Israel threatens to once again invade the territory, its determination to incite violence and provoke reactions remains unrecognized and unreported by our media. Some important correctives can be found here, here and here. This is, as it was the first time around, for my friends in Gaza.
Location: Jabaliya refugee camp, Gaza City. 2009
“And what projects are you working on at the moment?”
“An exhibition…and…I’m working on the completion of a new book, something very close to my heart.”
“What’s it about?”
“The Palestinians.”
There was a rather long silence…my friend looked at me with a slightly sad smile, and said “Sure, why not! But don’t you think the subject’s a bit dated? Look, I’ve taken photographs of the Palestinians too, especially in the refugee camps…its really sad! But these days, who’s interested in people who eat off the ground with their hands? And then there’s all that terrorism…I’d have thought you’d be better off using your energy and capabilities on something more worthwhile!”
Swiss photographer Jean Mohr describes a conversation with a friend.(1) Details »
The False Eye: Photojournalism, War Photography And The Myopia Of Critism
Let me get right to the point – Photography curators and editors refuse to acknowledge, examine and critically analyse the fundamental and at times definitive influences that the institutions of production have on the kinds of war photographs that are made, and the perspectives that are adopted in them. There seems to be a collusion between these ‘gatekeepers’ of the craft, to never raise the question about the publications the war photographer was on assignment for, the editorial prejudices of that publication, the proclivities and prejudices of the market into which the particular war photographer was aiming her work at, and the broader political and cultural baggage which the photographer carried with her to the work. Details »
The Justice In Pakistan Project Begins….
This is the official announcement of the start of the Justice in Pakistan project.
The website above is a project work in progress website and it will reveal the unfolding and evolution of the project over the course of the next twelve months. I have recently arrived in Lahore and made a small studio and base of operations here. And I will admit that I am quite overwhelmed by the task I have set for myself, but at the same time I am quite certain that it will result in a unique work. Details »
Personal Thoughts And Something About Moving To Africa
Satisfied in wasting time in juvenile discussions about the ‘seriousness’ of Hipstamatic or Instagram while … avoiding any debates about the the historical, cultural, and social prejudices that underpin the craft, or even the legacy of a colonial forms of knowledge that continue to inform its form, photographers seem deeply disconnected from the very world they so claim to be documenting.
It has been difficult to write. I suppose that is stating the obvious given that this blog has been rather quiet for many weeks, if not months. I am not quite sure what the cause of this silence is. But I have been blocked. But this is a block that comes not from a lack of things to say and write, but from a sense of distance and disconnection from my perceived audience. Details »
Matt Lutton Takes burn Magazine’s Emerging Photographer Prize And None Too Soon!
From 'Only Unity' by Matt Lutton (All Rights Reserved)
It was a pleasant surprise to learn that Matt Lutton has been awarded the burn Magazine’s ‘Emerging Photographer’ award. The surprise came not from the fact that Matt won the grant, but that a work on a region long forgotten by mainstream media, received a recognition that it so deserves. So when these two slide came up on the burn magazine page, I shouted with glee! Details »
The Surprising Silence In The Face Of The Dictator [UPDATED]
I have been confused by the critical silence about Sasha Baron Cohen’s new film The Dictator. I suppose it is always confusing when in the face of a product singularly based on the idea of stringing together a couple of hours worth of racial, societal, cultural and ethnic stereotypes and hoping to get a laugh out of them receives no critical commentary.
Maggie Steber’s Rite Of Passage
Its been a long time since I last wrote on this blog. In fact, in a recent discussion with Prison Photography’s Pete Brook’s I even declared the blog near dead. But frankly I have not had the heart to shut it down because each time I do I find that someone is still reading it and insisting on discussing it with me. So it remains alive, though I do have to get back to writing more and speaking less. I seem to be making my arguments in person these days and avoiding putting down on the blog. Details »
A Valentine’s Day / Guantanamo Bay Love Story
“You are the soul of my life. You are the best of my heart. You are the light of my eyes. You are the oxygen in my lungs, you are the sun on my back, the sweetest taste of my mouth you are everything you are everything I need to live, to love, to be… Do you know how much you are important for my life. If you break I will break, if you become weak I will become weak and if you go I will go. You are my soul twin. I need you to be strong.”
From a letter written by Guantanamo Bay detainee Shaker Aamer to his wife / family
Shaker Aamer has been held at Guantanao Bay for nearly 10 years. He has never faced trial, or even been accused of any crimes. A story by The Independent revealed that the UK Government has spent £274,345 fighting Aamer in court, including preventing his lawyers viewing evidence that may prove his innocence and end more than a decade in US custody.
What I love about these Aamer’s words is that they help me cut past the tacky, commercial nature of this faux-holiday and be reminded that the emotion of ‘love’ can hold such a powerful meaning for a person and that it can literarily become a life line. It is easy to forget all this as we simply go through the motions and gestures of acts of love. It is easy to loose sight and feeling for the feelings of love, a longing and gentle openness to another, a memory – imaginary, fictitious, but nevertheless concrete in the emotions it creates, the heartbeats it inspires, the courage it gives birth to. Here, in the midst of our American made horror, live and breath souls that feel love and hold onto it every day simply to remain sane, and alive. How many of us can claim to feel such a love?
Shaker Aamer’s only crime seems to have been that he was what Daryl Li has called ‘…Muslim out of place…’ i.e. an Arab man in a country he ‘should not’ be in and hence suspected of being there for ‘terrorism’ activities. A Li explains in his paper A Universal Enemy? Legal Regimes of Exclusion and Exemption Under the ‘Global War on Terror’ that:
The application of a poorly defined category such as “foreign fighter” to a complex empirical reality of many different “foreign” Muslims necessarily occasions a set of particularly thorny, if not outright confused, problems of governance. Just as the standard refrain that one must distinguish between “moderate” (good) Muslims and “radical” (bad) Muslims presupposes the need to know all Muslims, the concern over foreign (Muslim) fighters necessarily renders (Muslim) foreigners into a categorical object that needs to be known and appropriately dealt with. Before long, however, the object of knowledge as constructed – Muslim foreigners – becomes a source of anxiety in itself. This is the problem of what can be called “Muslims out of place.” Details »
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