Rio Salado College
Photography, Social Issues, and Public Awareness
Sarah Latino
English 102: First Year Composition
Professor Jean Akers
May 29, 2023
Photography, Social issues, and Public Awareness Research Paper
Photographic imagery, both still and motion, is a contributing factor into creating public awareness of social issues. Today, just about everyone has a phone with a camera at their fingertips, in which they also have the capability to share those images instantaneous. These images can be shared beyond social circles, past state boundaries, across nations, and possible around the world in a short amount of time. Prior to the trading of these images over the internet and social media the standard picture or video had to be projected to the masses by the mainstream media outlets like magazines, newspapers, and television. Where the impact or the coverage did not have the same instantaneous national and global exposure. However, both have led to creating a public awareness to current and ongoing social issues as they occur.
In 1991, the beating of Rodney King by police officers was captured on video. The video that was show on the news that night took a very raw situation with graphic evidence through the images captured. Immediately bringing attention and awareness to the social issue of police brutality and excessive force from the LAPD and the four officers. The officers were then charged and tried for the beating of Mr. King at the end of the trial all four officers ended up being acquitted. This acquittal resulted in a revolt and subsequent riots in city Los Angeles and the surrounding area known to this day as the Los Angeles Riots of 1992. This chain of events occurred because images were captured of a social issue and were used to bring public awareness to the issue. More recently a similar event occurred with George Floyd. Again, film and photos were captured of police misconduct resulting in the death George Floyd. These images were shared with the public and protests and rioting began shortly after.
Not always are the images captured and shared with full context or an unbiased point of view. The use of photographs to promote a specific agenda or propaganda has been happening for centuries. Roland Bleiker, a professor at the University of Queensland authored an article titled "The Power of Images in Global Politics" for E-International Relations website where he discusses how images are strategically utilized to influence politics. Bleiker contends that images translate different than words. He also speaks to the speed the images can be shared and recalls how images captured from the Vietnam War took days and weeks to be shared with the public.
There is a challenge that photography and the speed that it can be shared faces. The idea that an image is a means to provide context to a movement or a situation has to be carefully addressed. A photo can, just as words instill bias. People look at an image and believe that what they are looking at is exactly what is occurring, when in fact it was a shot taken and used out of context to push a specific agenda. It is the responsibility of both parties: the photographer to supply not only factual but contextual images to the viewer, and the viewer to seek the truth or context that is behind the image.
In his article, Bleiker writes about Leni Riefenstahl and her documentation of Nazi rallies. Her images from her films helped the Nazi party gain support in their pursuit to commit genocide against the Jewish people and any other race they felt was inferior. They portrayed the agenda of nationalism and patriotism, not the eradication of people or a mad man's desire to rule the world. This is an instance of how images can be used as propaganda to promote a bias and a specific agenda. These images influenced a nation to take up arms against citizens and mass genocide occurred. Millions of soldiers, men, women, and children lost their lives in the resulting war.
There is or should be a responsibility when using a photograph. In the digital world we currently live in, images can and are misrepresented. They are altered, important contextual details are omitted with cropping or other editing methods. Additionally, images can be misrepresented by captions and how they are presented. In an essay written by James Fleming titled, "Pictures of Half-Truth" which was published in the Afterimage journal by the University of California. This essay has an interesting perspective of how images can be misrepresented. His essay gives examples of various photographic images and gives context to the image and then describes the reality of how the image was used. The two instances being quite different. One example Fleming used is of a photo of a soldier, Joseph Duo, holding a rocket launcher on his shoulder jumping in a celebratory manner. In the image it is not easily decipherable why he is holding the weapon or jumping for joy. Fleming asserts that the caption of this photo can lead the viewer down a path of what is occurring. That path can be whatever they want; one being what actually is occurring or what they want the viewer to believe is occurring. While an image has the power to bring awareness and create a change in a movement, we must call into question the validity and integrity of the image.
However, there are photographers that use their photography not as propaganda but to shed light on injustices or issues that need to be seen. Donna Ferrato an award-winning photographer and activist is widely known for her photographs depicting and documenting domestic violence both the act and later effects from physical abuse. She uses her photographs to bring to the surface the issues most people do not want to speak about, secret situations most try to keep hidden. In 2014 Ferrato began her "I Am Unbeatable" collection which portrays images of women who have left their abusive relationships. The first time she saw a man hit his spouse, not only was she was able to capture that raw and violent image. When he tried again to hit his spouse, she stepped in to stop him which she fortunately did. (Lane) This instance caused something to stir inside of her. Ferrato wanted to bring what happened and continues to occur to the surface as well as bring awareness to this issue. Her images have done just that. She has brought this issue that has historically been pushed under the rug and only whispered about to the forefront and is forcing the issue to be talked about.
In another article covering Ferrato who was speaking at a talk series event held at Grand Valley State University, she discusses how she uses her photography to bring attention to an issue. Ferrato is quoted saying, "A photograph has great power to change what people think, to open minds as well as eyes.... That's why I keep doing it, why I work so hard to get the strong images that will make people stop and think." (Rafferty) This photographer uses these graphic, difficult to view, and triggering images to bring awareness of an ongoing issue occurring not only across the United States, but the world. She is an example of how she uses photography to brings about awareness.
Another photographer who has used photography to bring awareness to a social issue was Ismail Ferdous. Ferdous is a Bangladeshi photojournalist. He authored an article titled "Photography as Activism: The Role of Visual Media in Humanitarian Crises" which was published in the Harvard International Review. This article discussed the photos he captured documenting the aftermath of a clothes manufacturing factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh that had collapsed in April 2013. This devastating collapse resulted in killing more than a thousand factory workers and injuring two thousand more. Just days before this catastrophic event at the factory in Rana Plaza, workers had refused to enter the factory because of the condition of the building. However, these labors were forced to work by intimidation tactics, threats of lost pay, and fear of losing their job. Instead, it cost them much more; life altering injuries and loss of life. A month after the collapse, May 2013, a joint pact was made among thirty-five brands and retailors with the Bangladesh governing bodies to ensure safer conditions and environments for the workers in these factories. In his article, he wrote about how he organized protests in New York. During the protest he casted the images he captured from the Rana Plaza collapse onto some of the buildings that housed the companies that the sell the clothes made in that factory. A year later the list of retailers supporting safer conditions for the workers grew to more than one hundred. This is another instance highlighting how photography creates awareness of an issue and a movement.
Similar to Ferrato and Ferdous, photographer, writer, and teacher David Ulrich addresses photography and social change. However, in his blog, "Photography for Social Change", published on the Slender Thread website, on July 23, 2017, he explores the contributions several photographers whose images have brought about significant changes to the world known today. Ulrich asserts that photography is a tool which can be used to bring social change. One photographer he examines is Lewis Hines. Hines a photographer who in the early 1900's made images of the subpar workplace conditions and the child labor workers in factories and mills throughout the United States. Hines endured threats and violence to capture the true conditions these young children were forced to work in. This is a testament to his dedication and determination to expose the horrific environments the children were forced to work in and the desire to keep it from the public. The images caused a government uproar in which Congress passed laws to regulate the conditions and how the children were used and treated in the labor force.
The Farm Security Administration (FSA) used photographers to document the human condition during the Great Depression in the 1930's. The thought was to document and bring awareness to the plight of Americans and give insight to what was truly occurring across the country. The photographers took more than 80,000 images and highlighted an emergent need for relief and intervention. These images are now archived at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Amid the great depression documentation in 1936, Life Magazine was retooled and ended up becoming a weekly news magazine. This magazine brought awareness of social issues occurring around the country and world to the public using photojournalism. Ulrich describes the magazine as "heroism of sacrifice, the blood and guts of battle..." all documented by photo imagery. Ulrich then writes, "And all were accompanied by pictures. Show, don't tell, became the mantra for a new era that reverberates to the present-day." (Ulrich) This is the very essence of photography and how it can give a voice to a situation when words cannot. A photograph can transport the viewer to the event, instead of trying to imagine what everything looks like. The voice of the event or issue not only can be heard with the words written but now it can be seen with the photographs taken.
Photojournalist W. Eugene Smith, a contributor to Life Magazine shared an exposé on a small fishing village in Minamata, Japan who had been exposed to mercury poisoning for more than a generation. This work was made into a book and created a raucous so great the Japanese government stepped in and paid out millions in damages. Smith also endured physical harm while on this project. Bodyguards from Chisso Chemical company sought Smith on at least two occasions and beat him with the intent of intimidating him into silence. Due to his unyielding desire to convey awareness to this issue, the Japanese government finally stepped in. The Chisso Chemical company was required to clean up the affected waters as well as pay over $86 million in restitution to over ten thousand families. The photographers who are exposing secrets and bring them to the awareness of the public often face many forms of danger.
Another photographer who uses her work to bring about awareness on social issues is Nan Goldin. She is a photographer and activist. Goldin has made significant strides in photography through her honest and unapologetic approach to her portrait making, brining light to important issues including the AIDS epidemic, addiction in the 1980's as well her activism in today's opioid epidemic. Goldin has most recently taken her photography and activism to fight the opioid epidemic. In 2017, she created a foundation called PAIN, which stands for Prescription Addiction Intervention Now. She has taken on the Sackler family who company Purdue Pharm created the drug OxyContin. She has used her status in the art world to make some major changes. The National Portrait Gallery wanted to host a retrospective of her work, however she threatened to decline the invitation because the gallery was in the process of being awarded a 1.2-million-dollar grant from the Slacker family foundation. To the astonishment of Goldin and many in the community, the National Portrait Gallery declined to take the 1.2-million-dollar grant. (Badshah and Walters) This was the first of many more to come. Ivy league schools like Harvard, museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, the Tate Modern, and the Louvre have since removed the Slacker name and/or stop taking their donations. She stood against these powerhouses - museums and medical facilities. With her name, standing and, reputation in the art world she was ultimately able to stand up - and demand that the Sackler name be removed from the same prestigious museums and medical facilities. She has testified in court to rally for addiction intervention from the government. When she wins one battle she starts on to the next. Nan Goldin is doing her part to change the world and make it a better place. She does this with her radical photography. She lifts the curtain and shows you what is behind the scenes. The secrecy is going to disappear if she has anything to do with it.
Photographers can and do encounter threats, stalking, intimidation, and even physical violence while trying to bring a specific social or wrongful act to light even when these things want to remain hidden. No matter these deterrents and dangers they continue to take the shot and bring about awareness on social issues and injustices.
Regardless, if you subscribe to a social media platform, watch your local news, listen to NPR radio, or read a newspaper. We strive to stay informed about the latest trends that affect our daily lives, the state of social and economic values. Photography and Photojournalism. Bridge the gap of the community and can span language barriers, the adage a picture is worth a thousand words. It must be responsible and factual, when we use photography to tell a story based on bias and propaganda. We leave ourselves open for scrutiny and interpretation.
Works Cited
Badshah, Nadeem, and Joanna Walters. "National Portrait Gallery Drops £1m Grant from Sackler Family." The Guardian
Bleiker, Roland. "The Power of Images in Global Politics." E-International Relations
Ferdous, Ismail. "Photography as Activism: The Role of Visual Media in Humanitarian Crises." Harvard International Review
Fleming, James. "Pictures of Half-Truth." Afterimage
Jackson, Ashawnta. "How Civil Rights Groups Used Photography for Change." JSTOR Daily
Lane, Guy. ""He Never Hit Her in Front of Me Again" - Donna Ferrato's Domestic Abuse Photos." The Guardian
Poitras, Laura, director. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed. Riverside Studios
Rafferty, Allison. "GV Highlights Donna Ferrato's Activism Photography." Grand Valley Lanthorn, Gale Academic OneFile
Raiford, Leigh. ""Come Let Us Build a New World Together": SNCC and Photography of the Civil Rights Movement." American Quarterly