Democratic Republic Of Congo, 2008

Whilst doing some research this week, I came across the image below, and immediately fell in love with it. The photographer behind the camera that captured this masterpiece is the brilliant Jim Goldberg.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO. 2008.
His radio is the sole possession that he took with him while escaping a rebel attack in his village. He now lives in a refugee camp with 60,000 other people where poverty, disease, and crime run rampant.

Stunning right? The boy, though physically strong, is caught in a rare vulnerable moment. The image being in black and white, as apposed to colour, leaves the audience faced head on with the pure emotion he is showing, both in his closed stance, as well as his delicate expression. The rolling tents behind him, blending in to the hills on the horizon and the subtle greys of the sky, it's all just so gorgeous. It's no wonder this image won the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize last year. Each year, the award (organised by The Photographers' Gallery in association with Deutsche Börse) goes to a living photographer that has made "the most significant contribution, in exhibition or publication format, to the medium of photography in Europe" over the previous 12 months.

This image is just one from Goldberg's project Open See, which "documents the experiences of refugee, immigrant and trafficked populations who travel from war torn, socially and economically devastated countries, such as Iraq, Bangladesh, China, The Balkans and Congo, to make new lives in Europe. Fusing Polaroids, video, written text, ephemera and large and medium format photographs, Goldberg reflects on issues of migration and the conditions for desiring escape."

Jim Goldberg has a wonderful way of co-creating his images, allowing the subject to tell their stories openly and without fear of prejudice or judgement. His innovative use of different media forms is a breath of fresh air on the mundane photo-stories of today, and helps the images become interesting as well as relatable. 

Needless to say, I'm a big fan. And this picture, in particular, is quickly becoming one of my favourites of all time. 

Towards A Promised Land

Helping children express themselves through photography for more than 30 years, Wendy Ewald is a storyteller. She encourages her students to create individual self-portraits and to represent their dreams and nightmares through imagery, teaching them the ins and outs of cameras and film techniques.

In ‘Towards A Promised Land’, Ewald documents 22 immigrant children new to the seaside town of Margate, England. They are all from different backgrounds and moved to the area for different reasons. “Although the coast of Kent has been the gateway to the U.K. for asylum seekers over many years, I didn't want to limit my attention to foreign immigrants…” says Ewald. “…It was obvious that the 'flood' of asylum seekers was something of a cliché.”

The subjects then mark or wrote on Ewald’s own negatives, almost challenging the concept of who makes the image, and blurs the lines between who is the documenter, and who is the subject.  These comments give the audience a brief glimpse into the child’s story and gives each child a personality previously ignored, encouraging the viewer to care about their past. When exhibited, Ewald’s images were enlarged and hung along Margate’s Sea Wall (and later, exhibited around Margate town itself). Nicci Gerrard (of The Observer) described the Sea Wall exhibit as ‘a photogenic Mount Rushmore’, and they certainly have a similar impact. The faces of the children looking out towards the places they have come from, and the problems they’ve fled from. The faces of the traumatised, with a new glimmer of hope and determination in their eyes.

Ewald explained her exhibiting technique – “this… strategy could be interesting for Margate, where people coming to a new place were invisible to the residents of that place. To make them visible in a monumental way around a town would be interesting and provocative.” And provocative it was, resulting with the images being egged and petrol bombed after the London bombings.

When you hear the word ‘immigrant’ you immediately jump to the stereotype, and you forget about the children that are uprooted and come too. Ewald has given a very honest, very human, view on a current major issue in the UK, one that had yet to be photographed in a way that holds as much meaning as this project does. It gives the audience a chance to look past the stereotype, and maybe find something they can relate too. It gives the chance for a change in opinions an encouraging nudge in the right direction (even if initially rejected).

You can read an conversation between Wendy Ewald and Michael Morris here.

Order Wendy Ewald's 'Towards A Promised Land' here.