For western eyes, Sudan has most often appeared as a site of famine or war, be it in the south or Darfur. Said to be “one of the hollow-bellied places of the world” or a landscape “seared by war,” the continent’s largest country has often been rendered via stereotypical images.
The politics of the situation facing Sudan is inevitably complex (the International Crisis Group has excellent analyses of the situation here and Alex de Waal has his usual profound insights here). So how can it be visualized? How can politics be represented in pictures?
This week we have seen two conventional strategies in response to that challenge. The first is to invoke images from the past…
The second is to record the appearance of the visible traces of politics, namely leaders engaged in ceremonies where the trappings of sovereignty are evident. Peter Martell’s pictures of President Omar al-Bashir’s visit to the south earlier this week are an example of this, showing Bashir’s welcome by the south’s leader Salva Kiir, with the requisite red carpet, military officials and marching band.
It is a lot to ask of a single photograph that it represent the complexities of politics, no matter how talented the photographer. No doubt in the week ahead we will see pictures of polling stations, queues of voters, and people raising inky fingers to signify the completion of their electoral act (hopefully images of conflict will be absent). Who, though, will produce something a little different?
This is what David Campell has to say about the visual representations of the referendum in Sudan. The last paragraph is especially poignant and I think it’s important to try and imagine what a photograph that captured these complexities would look like. A group of South Sudanese in heated debate, perhaps with political posters on a wall behind them framing their engaged expressions? A voter leaving a polling station with a look of dismay, confusion, or trepidation on his or her face, rather than the stock happy voter images we’re seeing over and over? I’m not that either of these theoretical images, or any image for that matter, might do the trick. Perhaps this isn’t the kind of complexity that can be captured through spot news photography.
In Ivory Coast, an equally complicated political situation is being widely photographed. In yesterday’s New York Times, a story about civilians paying the price for political tumult is accompanied by two photographs by different photographers of dead bodies.
The question is what each photograph tells us about the politics of the situation, and the answer, I fear, is very little.
I strongly believe this has far more to do with the demands of newspaper photography and news imagery than any shortcoming on the part of the photographers. Both snappers are well established image makers who have worked in West Africa for many years, and whose work I very much respect. They both undoubtedly know far more about the politics involved than either of these images lets on.
In an interview, Stephen Mayes, managing director of VII, says:
Rather than looking at oneself, and at one’s own experience, what photojournalism has become is the process of looking at others in a way that is intrinsically remote and idealized. Representations of war, for instance, fall into standardized forms. There are certain [visual] codes that recur. What I tend to find is that so much journalism we see is about affirming what we already know, instead of challenging us to broaden our horizons.
The photographs coming out of Sudan and Ivory Coast at the moment mainly reflect instances of these known visual codes. This is partially because they are all news photographs, which are constrained by factors like time, budget, and logistics, and partially it’s because this is what newspapers think that readers want. They are documents of the situation, verification of what’s happening and when, rather than explanations or commentary.
The numbers of comments on Chris Blattman or Jina Moore’s blog that delve into the details and nuances of just what is going on in Ivory Coast clearly point to the fact that not all readers want simple narratives, and I would argue this could extend to a desire for photographs that are more than known visual codes as well.
Readers, what do you think? Do these types of photos do the trick when it comes to illustrating what’s going on? Or do you want to see something else? Also, can anyone point to examples of images that illustrate politics, in Africa or elsewhere, more effectively than these do?
Here’s one of my favorite images by Ami Vitale of a rally in Kashmir that manages to be both political and metaphorical, and through its use of metaphor demands that I as a viewer challenge my assumptions and seek to learn more about what’s happening.
6 Comments
In terms of the more recent photographs from Cote D’Iv, the other day I was scanning another blog and came across a photograph of a chaotic skirmish, with fallen bodies and bullet casings in the street. I at first assumed that it was a eight year-old photograph from Monrovia, when it was an eight-hour-old photograph from Abidjan. I am not saying I am equating the two countries or conflicts– they are of course quite different, no matter what happens with Gbagbo. But for me personally, the visual/atmospheric similarities, and what they might imply and reveal for the severity of the situation, illuminated the situation in a way that I will admit reading the lucid reporting has not. I experienced the photo much differently than digesting an account of raids of certain neighborhoods– it made me realize not how awful the situation could be, but how dire it already is, even if it is contained in certain sections of one city.
That photo from Kashmir is awesome.
Safe Travels, Glenna!
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I think it’s bad that you pull photos off the NYT’s website and don’t even credit the photographers under the photos (especially being a photographer yourself). I disagree with you, I don’t think Ivory Coast is being widely covered by photographers at all and I really think you need to take into account the safety on the ground at the moment (or lack there of). Chris Blattman or Jina Moore’s blogs “delve into the details and nuances of just what is going on in Ivory Coast” they can do that comfortably and safely from anywhere. You are not giving these photographers enough credit…
“The question is what each photograph tells us about the politics of the situation, and the answer, I fear, is very little.” How can you make that kind of judgment by looking at one photo from each photographer? And in my opinion, this was the poor choice of a nyt’s photo editor. I think you are being incredibly too harsh on your peers. Instead of sitting behind your computer putting everyone else down (publicly!), why don’t you go shoot in Sudan or Ivory Coast?
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Hi Sam,
In my post, I make it very clear that I do not at all think this situation is related to shortcomings on the parts of any of these photographers and is instead related to a media system and the editorial demands of the news cycle. And since my own work isn’t usually news photography, and the system that requires visual cliches is not one that I want to feed, I’m looking elsewhere for stories and images at the moment.
Also, I think it’s important to debate these things – whether on the ground, at a computer, or anywhere in between.
Thanks for sharing your opinion.
Glenna
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Also, note, NYT had a slideshow of the Ic situation, by the same photographer, that did more documenting and less illustrating. Again, I would argue this is about the demands of the news environment and not about any shortcomings on the parts of photographers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/world/africa/18ivory.html?ref=ivorycoast
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Although I would actually prefer to do it from Ivory Coast, where I could talk to people, I get what Sam’s saying. Respect risk. But I also think, Glenna, you make a really important point about the systematic nature of the media’s visual cliches. (I think there’s also a set of writing cliches that your analysis describes exactly, for what it’s worth.) I’m often struck by how powerful they are when the kind of images you describe appear next to stories I’ve tried to write in a way that avoids, or overcomes, or just ignores, media cliches. It’s always jarring, and I often wonder what goes through people’s minds as the choose the photos that illustrate a story — alas, it’s so rare that anyone’s given a chance to tell a story visually, with minimal text, especially in breaking news situations. Sometimes it feels like it’s the photograph’s job to ramp up the reader’s adrenaline and get them to bother with the words…
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A photographer, whether news or fashion or cookery, composes a picture for publication. As photographer you rapidly learn what the pictures editor and page designer are going to use or lose. If you stop feeding them, they stop feeding you – it is the system and it works.
And a war is a war is a war. The war pictures will tell the same old stories from the same old near-neutral pov. Boer War, Spanish Civil War, Shetlands War, whatever… Yeah, the colour gets better, the depth of focus improves. Same pictures. Cliche.
Sometimes, not often, there is a hint of something else, an understanding or revalation of the horror which is what I think you are looking for.
Those pictures rise above news and become Art, But those Art pics are terribly rare, and seldom composed. I ‘m thinking of the naked girl running from napalm, of the summary execution of a suspected enemy, of the 1976 Soweto man screaming while carrying a dying child. The photographers were all just lucky to hit the shutter at exactly the right time. Does random chance do it for you?
The new media coming out of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya at the moment is not a war cliche (yet). Its naive Art. Very inept, very real. Hosepiped video from a crappy cellphone lens tells much more of the story than does a crafted 20 megapixel still pic from a Nikon. Does amateur reality do it for you?
If you want to take it further please do illustrate your words and curate here a few of the composed war pics that you consider are not a cliche, that go beyond the call of duty and tell the whole story of the war in one pic. I look forward to it.
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