Perspectives of Poverty

I came across the following photography project, that attempts to address the issue of representation and poverty in rural Africa. Duncan McNicoll,the photographer and an Engineers Without Borders employee, uses two different photographs of the same individual to illustrate how the construction of images can so greatly alter the way people and places are represented. Whether two opposing images are able to adequately address the complexities of poverty and representation is debatable. However, it is great to see individuals working in the development field, attempting to draw attention to problems of representation. I especially like how Edward Kabzela’s ‘poor’ photograph, and the way his community members were able to articulate how to look poorer, points to the economy of images that have become so common place between non-profit organizations and the communities they work with.

We’ve all seen it: the photo of a teary-eyed African child, dressed in rags, smothered in flies, with a look of desperation that the caption all too readily points out.  Some organization has made a poster that tells you about the realities of poverty, what they are doing about it, and how your donation will change things. I reacted very strongly to these kinds of photos when I returned from Africa in 2008.  I compared these photos to m … Read More

via Water Wellness