Before I came to Africa, a friend of mine who studied here one year ago gave me a warning about photography. He wasn’t so concerned with my bringing a large, expensive camera. Every camera an American brings is large and expensive. His concern was not even that I might become a nuisance by taking too many pictures. His warning was that I must not perpetuate negative stereotypes back home through the photos I show people. So, with that in mind, I want to share some of my thoughts about living abroad and doing justice to the people and places you see…and photograph.
Many of the pictures we see of Africa make poverty seem like a soul crushing force. Children with flies in their mouths and eyes, wearing no clothing and covered in dirt, suffering from distended stomachs and parched lips. Of course those realities exist, and the honest pictures depicting them have their rightful place in our lives.
But my friend warned me to place my pictures in the proper context. He pointed out that a naked, dirty kid might not be just some pitiful victim of social injustice, like we’re used to seeing in “Save the Children” campaigns on tv. He may simply have run out of his house without clothes, carefree and innocent, and then played in the dirt with his friends. His mother would probably yell at him later – I can recall similar incidents from my own childhood!
But if I just took that picture, of a dirty, naked African kid on the street, few people would think, “Oh what a playful little fellow!” Most would feel bad about the image, remind themselves to give money to World Vision, and move on to a more palatable photo. Without providing an explanation, I would be doing an injustice to the subject of my photograph. The following photo shows what I mean.
(This is Waswa. He lives with the family that hosted me for two weeks. He's outside sleeping on cement and has flies on his face...because he's got a headache and is really tired. His patio just happens to be made of cement, and he's such a deep sleeper that flies (which are everywhere) don't even wake him up! He's not impoverished. He's just adorable. Context.)
My goal in Africa has been to take great pictures of beautiful people, even if they are dirty or malnourished or poor. I hope each of my photos preserves the dignity of these people, and I want that dignity to be blind to poverty or wealth. I want my pictures to completely draw the viewer into them. I don’t want that to happen because it’s voyeuristically tragic or depressing, even if the subject is living amongst tragedy. I want that to happen because it's clear I’ve found something worth learning about, worth staring at - even if it’s not always glamorous.
(A girl practicing a choir song at a local primary school.)
I hope you also get the chance to spend some time studying in another country, and after two months in Uganda, I give it a full recommendation. And if you do go to Africa, bring a camera.
It’s gorgeous here.
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