Some Thoughts on the Image Stream by Tom Griggs on fototazo

Last week Tom Griggs posted an essay titled, Navigating the Stream - Part I on his blog fototazo, which is sure to be followed up with another insightful and thought provoking essay dealing with the many issues surrounding the ever-shifting nature of photographs in an on-line environment. He concludes Part I with an important distinction between the relatively thoughtless manner of gathering and disseminating images and more carefully considered and challenging presentation strategies.  

He writes,  "I’m talking about the encroaching idea of posting image after unconnected image on Tumblr or wherever as an “artist” and never moving to make something with the images beyond that....ever.  Selecting, editing and curating your work creates meaning and moves photography beyond the superficial, beyond just the aesthetic..."

You can read Griggs' full essay HERE.

A Well Deserved Return to Philip-Lorca diCorcia's "Hustlers"

I was pleased to come across this today on Conscientious.  I'm in agreement with most, if not all, of what Colberg has to say.  I've long admired diCorcia's work, and especially this series.  You can read the essay HERE.  I highly recommend it.

Image Credit:  Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Sourced from:  Conscientious)

Opposing Perspectives on Jimmy Nelson's Project, Before They Pass Away

Image Credit:  The Maori, New Zealand. © Jimmy Nelson BV Courtesy teNeues. (Sourced from feature shoot)

I came across an article extolling the power of Jimmy Nelson's portrait series, Before They Pass Away, on the blog feature shoot last week.  I have mixed feelings about this work, and was immediately a bit put off by the overly slick, commercial feel of the images.  But, I was more bothered by the assertion that this work served to "document the last remaining indigenous people of the world." (See the article, Powerful Photos of Vanishing Indigenous People Across the Globe, by clicking HERE.)

I had a suspicion that it wouldn't be hard to find an article that was critical of Nelson's approach, and came across a thoughtful essay on Salon by Elissa Washuta, "The Wrongheaded Obsession with 'Vanishing' Indigenous People." Washuta makes a number of strong points about the work and rightly questions the romanticized aesthetic in relation to the artists "predefined notion of indigenous authenticity, which doesn't align with the realities that have faced indigenous communities since time immemorial" (Washuta).  

I encourage those interested in this work, or in representations of indigenous communities in general, to read over both articles and think carefully about Washuta's suggestion that, 

"Nelson’s evaluation of communities during his lifetime fails to account for the flux experienced over thousands of years. Too often, onlookers expect indigenous peoples to remain static for the entirety of their existence, failing to consider their long histories of change before contact with outsiders."

Narrating War

Such is the title of an upcoming exhibition/program at Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin.  Students in Photo II might find interest in this considerate approach to the content of war, especially as it relates to our recent reading in the Wells text on traditions of documentary, historically and now.

Image Credit:  Krieg erzählen | Foto: Sebastian Bolesch (sourced from HKW)

Below is an excerpt from the press release on E-Flux:  

In Narrating War, Haus der Kulturen der Welt deliberately does not take the great catastrophes of the 20th century as its point of reference. Rather, it places conflicts of the recent past and the present at the center, from the civil wars in the former Yugoslavia to the wars in the Middle East, in the Gaza Strip and in Syria. The year 2014 marks not only the centenary of the start of the First World War, but also the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda. And, not least, it is the year in which Germany will begin to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. How are the stories of these wars told today? And what is kept silent? Who is allowed to speak, and what fissures, gaps, formulas, and clichés arise when they do?

Reporting, the ur-technique of dealing with information, is not a neutral process. It smooths out and filters, abbreviates and expands on its subject. What formats in texts, pictures, and films are suitable for conveying extreme experiences in war? At what cost? Why do objectifying reports so often fail, and why do so many reporters choose subjective perspectives? Narrating War brings together war correspondents and photographers, editors and academics, soldiers and human rights activists, filmmakers and witnesses from war zones and conflict areas. In roundtables, in panels, and one-on-one, the participants will discuss doubts and fears, errors and the unspoken, coincidences and taboos—the “making of” behind professional reporting which normally remains hidden from news consumers. The discussions will be complemented and contrasted by readings by actors and a selection of extraordinary documentary films put together and commented on.