Images, Representation and Power
Our reflection on images, representation, and power is connected to painter Gunduz Aghayev’s series of illustrations titled “Imagine.” He uses his illustrations to reimagine historical photographs taken of children ranging from the Vietnam War to the death of young Syrian boy, Aylan Kurdi, who’s body was photographed after washing up to shore (Lomento). One photograph/illustration pairing we specifically choose to focus on was Kevin Carter’s Pulitzer Prize winning photo taken in 1993 of an malnourished Sudanese boy photographed with a vulture peering from above him in a photograph:
This illustration, inserts the photographer into the image. This image raise questions surrounding photography and violence, whiteness and representation, as well as cartoons/illustrations and satire.
The original photograph reflects the violence that photography is capable of: “the photograph is the harshest of all: it penetrates his privacy with an insistent, intense thrust that cannot be rejected…this is the violent side of seeing” (Elkins 27). This image reads in a similar manner, it penetrates the innocence and vulnerability of the child and of the moment. The illustration is subversive in that it reveals the photographer in the image, inserting him into the image and directly connecting him to the violence. In this way, it spurs thoughts surrounding representation as it relates to who is holding the camera, and who is the subject of the photograph. From Dyer’s piece we learn that “white people have power and believe that they think, feel and act like and for all people…white people create the dominant images of the world, and don’t quite see that they thus construct the world in their own image…white power nonetheless reproduces itself regardless of intention” (12). Despite Carter’s intentions, his photograph led him to receive a Pulitzer prize while we never learn the fate of the young child, reinforcing the privilege that comes with photography, and the power that photography affords. Overall, this image asks us to question who benefits from controversial photographs, if an image really enough to fundamentally shift an ongoing national crisis and if the attempt to make this shift is worth it?
Aly Dove & Majo Arias
Lomento, Tom. “Imagine: If Children Had The Childhood They Deserved.” Bored Panda. Boredpanda, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2016.
Dyer, Richard. “The Matter of Whiteness.” in White Privilege: Essential Readings on the other side of Racism, 2nd ed, Paula Rothenberg, ed. 2005, Worth Publishing.
This photograph is the centerpiece of Arthur Kleinman and Joan Kleinman’s article, “The Appeal of Experience; The Dismay of Images: Cultural Appropriations of Suffering in Our Times,” where they make a similar argument to the one you offer. Although they don’t include the artist’s satirical revision of the photograph, they make a cogent argument about how his or her absence from the frame influences our view of “reality,” as well as our assumptions about “Africa.” I’ve added that article to our list of readings, in case you are interested.
When posting images (especially Pulitzer prize winning photographs and original paintings), please remember to cite them as sources, as they are often copyrighted, and their creators deserve credit for their work.