Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up – 4 October 2019

This week on Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up – Conversations on Conflict Photography, a new book and exhibition by Lauren Walsh launches in New York City; Lessons from the Arctic opens at Magnet Galleries Melbourne; and the suburb of Fitzroy comes under the spotlight in the Image Chasers latest group show. 

 

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Exhibition and book:

Conversations on Conflict Photography – Lauren Walsh

Without spoiling the full book review which is to come, this is one of the most insightful reads on conflict photojournalism.

Conversations on Conflict Photography by Lauren Walsh features interviews with 12 award-winning photographers whose groundbreaking images have often defined global conflicts: Andrea Bruce, Marcus Bleasdale, Susan Meiselas, Shahidul Alam, Ron Haviv, Spencer Platt, Eman Helal, Benjamin Lowy, Nina Berman, Alexander Joe, Laurent Van der Stockt, and Newsha Tavakolian. There are also interviews with photo editors and humanitarian organisations.

Richly illustrated with 110 colour and B&W photographs, the 376-page book is sectioned into three categories: Behind the Lens, In the Newsroom and Beyond, and Advocacy and Aid. An essay written by Walsh precedes each section followed by a series of interviews.

Walsh teaches in New York City at The New School and New York University, where she is the Director of the Gallatin School’s Photojournalism Lab. She has perfectly balanced academic insights with personal revelations.

This photograph by Andrea Bruce is, in my opinion, one of the most harrowing. It is also a familiar image, evoking the Madonna and Child, a visual trope Bruce knew would resonate with audiences. It is no surprise then, that its publication roused public support for those displaced in Afghanistan. “The mother of Khan Mohammad, a three-month-old child who passed away due to the cold, is comforted before the child is washed and buried in the Nasaji Bagrami Camp for displaced persons in Kabul, Afghanistan, February 8, 2012.” © Andrea Bruce/NOOR.

There is also a Conversations on Conflict Photography exhibition, curated by Walsh and Keith Miller, which opens on October 8 at Gallatin Galleries in New York and features more than 30 works.

“FARC rebels assemble in a camp. With the official end of the Colombian conflict in late 2016, the guerrillas’ transition into civilian life has begun, though they still follow their old routines. The difference is that they no longer fight against or hide from government forces. Colombia, 2017.” © Newsha Tavakolian/Magnum Photos.

“Blood stains the wall of a hospital where executions appear to have taken place, Tripoli, Libya, August 2011.” © Ron Haviv/VII.

“Wooden angels stand in a yard down the street from the Sandy Hook Elementary School, where twenty-six people, including twenty children, were shot dead. Newtown, Connecticut, December 16, 2012.” it is no wonder that Platt is still haunted by this tragedy. Photo by Spencer Platt/ Getty Images.

“Sufia was the only survivor in her family. The others all died when their home was destroyed by the cyclone of April 29, 1991, in Anwara, Chittagong, Bangladesh. Sufia was taken in as part of another family.” © Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World.

“Child miners look for gold deep in the rebel-controlled area of Bavi, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2013. The gold is then smuggled to Uganda and sold to the Ugandan military in exchange for weapons. At the time, the UN considered the warlord in charge there, Cobra Matata, a “gun-for-hire” who allegedly worked in collusion with the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo to keep control of the mines, to protect the illegal earnings of the Congolese soldiers.” © Marcus Bleasdale.

“A freedom fighter, from one of the anti-government forces, enters the town of Mutoko, Rhodesia [now Zimbabwe] and is given a hero’s welcome as the war comes to an end, December 1979.” © Alexander Joe.

“This show examines the stories behind the photos and the ways the photographers approached them,” says Walsh. “Because contemporary viewers interact with photography in ways vastly different than even a generation ago, this exhibition permits a variety of approaches to engage with and learn from the photos—through text, audio, video, and ephemera. Through the use of interviews with photographers about their experiences of the conflicts they cover (reading their words, hearing their voices, seeing them speak) and with artefacts of the practice (for instance, a flak jacket and gas mask), this exhibition brings a deeper nuance and depth to the images.”

Panel Discussion

On October 16 (6-8pm) there is a panel discussion with Walsh, Nina Berman and Santiago Lyon, both who are interviewed in the book.  The exhibition features works from all 12 photojournalists from Conversations also.

This is one of the events of the year, so all of those lucky enough to be in NYC, don’t miss out! Am wishing that the teleporting machine from Star Trek would hurry up and become a reality. Beam me up, Scotty!

Gallatin Galleries – 1 Washington Place New York, NY 10003

Conversations on Conflict Photography is published by: Bloomsbury Visual Arts

Exhibitions: Melbourne 

Lessons from the Arctic – Magnet Galleries

In late 1911 two explorers set off for the South Pole: Norwegian Roald Amundsen and British explorer Robert Falcon Scott undertook independent expeditions in the bid to be the first to place their country’s flag at the end of the earth. Amundsen beat Scott by a month!

“This panel exhibition of images and personal accounts reveals how (Amundsen arrived first) by exploring some of the lessons (he) learnt from earlier experience in both Polar Regions. Many of the images have never been displayed before. They were taken by the expedition crew, hand-coloured by Amundsen and used in his lecture series of 1912.” For those who love history, this is a rare opportunity to gain insights into a time now long forgotten.

6-27 October, Magnet Galleries, SC G19 Wharf Street , The District, Docklands,  Melbourne

Exhibition: Melbourne

3065 – Image Chasers Group Show

How much has Fitzroy, Melbourne’s first suburb (originally named Newtown), succumbed to the wave of gentrification that has swept this city’s inner suburbs? What has happened to the largely working class community? Has Fitzroy retained its personality? These are some of the questions that this group show by Melbourne’s Image Chasers explores.

(C) Mike Reed

(C) Chris May

(C) Sally Coggle

(C) Mark Lourensz

 4 – 16 October 2019 Brunswick Street Gallery, 322 Brunswick St, Fitzroy