World Press Photo Masterclass in racial stereotyping?
Written by duckrabbit2011 JOOP SWART MASTERCLASS
The 2011 Joop Swart Masterclass will take place from 28 October – 3 November, bringing together 12 young, talented photographers with six photography professionals. In the time leading up to the masterclass, each of the photographers was prepared a photo essay on the theme Respect for the masterclass.
That’s how the World Press is selling this years Joop Swart Masterclass (no doubt a fantastic opportunity for the 12 talented young photogs picked). The theme is respect. With that in mind take a look at the photo by Antonio Bolfo, published by World Press to represent the theme:
I’m scratching my head to work out how this image represents ‘respect’? Fortunately there’s the ‘photo information’ button to press so I can find out more information. This is what it brings up:
Seems like a long-winded way to get a write up on the photo. Click to ‘View full context’, and this is what you get:
I’m left wondering what were the people at The World Press were thinking when they selected a picture of black people working on a rubbish tip and presented it without any context, without even a caption, as somehow representing the theme ‘respect’? Why do they not think it’s important to answer the questions, ‘where is this, and why is this happening’? Maybe it’s because this racial stereotyping of ‘poor’ black Africans (I suspect Haitian in this pic) has become so prevalent, such an easy portfolio shot for upcoming photographers, we no longer ask, or expect answers to these questions.
These are the values the World Press claim to promote:
The link to ‘further context’, which brings up the bio of the photographer says it all about what kind of ‘understanding’ the World Press ‘inspires’. The understanding that it’s only the photographer and their brilliant photographs that matters. Everything else is not even worth mentioning. But who cares. Poor black people on rubbish dumps make for wonderful subjects. Wonderful for showing just what great photographers we are and besides they should be grateful World Press has given them a voice.
Additional info:
I’ve gone back as far as 2008. Since then there has been 24 places for masters on the Joop Swart Masterclass. There’s been a good diversity of people, with the exception, (as far as I can tell) that not a single one of them has been black.
Please also note I am not a photographer and I therefore have never entered The World Press Awards (I do enjoy visiting the yearly show).
UPDATE
Here is an email exchange between Antonio and myself. I think its sheds light on the matter and I would like to thank Antonio for taking the time to respond:
Hi Benjamin,
To answer your question, I did supply captions for all the photos I submitted to the Joop Swart Masterclass. Whether they chose to include them with the image was up to them (as far as I know – I was not consulted in regards to the use of captions for the image that you are talking about). I took a look at the Joop Swart section that you are talking about and it seems they have added captions since your post – though I do not know if it was in response to your comments or because the section was simply not finished when they posted. I assume it was the latter, in which case maybe they should have completed it before launching the section. Regardless, I agree with you that captions are an important part of the photographic process if the photographer so chooses it to be. My impression is that the Joop Swart Section of the World Press Photo site is not intended to show case the stories, but the people who are attending the masterclass. The people attending the Masterclass were selected because of the totality of their work (again, as far as I know). The stories highlighted on the Joop Swart section were stories that we made after being accepted into the Masterclass. They will focus on those stories in the published book.
In regards to the racial stereotyping, I totally disagree with you and I am not sure how you came to this conclusion, please elaborate. The story is about a community that has long been forgotten and ignored by their government, leaving them to barely scrape by inside one of the largest garbage dumps in the country. These are some of the proudest people with the most self respect I have ever met, yet they are forced to endure this way of life because it is the only means of survival available to them. Unlike other parts of the country, aid workers and NGOs have kept their distance from this place and have no plans and bringing any aid to this community in the future. Have you seen the body of work? Or are you making the racial claim solely on the one photo you have seen? Also, I find it very offensive that you suggest that photographing starving people has become “such an easy portfolio shot for upcoming photographers.” Since you are not a photographer, let me explain to you that being among a starving community is one of the hardest things to do. We are constantly faced with the guilt of the moral and professional dilemma that we have as human beings and as journalists. Yet we can never compare anything we feel to the suffering of our subjects. We can leave, they can’t, and in comparison we really have nothing to complain about. But do not ever suggest that it is easy for us.
Best,
Antonio Bolfo
On Sun, Oct 9, 2011 at 10:30 AM, benjamin@duckrabbit.info <benjamin@duckrabbit.info> wrote:
Hi Antonio,
I’m just writing out of courtesy to point you to a post I’ve written about an image of yours on The World Press Photo.
You can read the post here: http://www.duckrabbit.info/2011/10/world-press-joop-swart-masterclass-respect-or-racial-stereotyping/
I wonder how you feel about the use of the image by World Press. Taken out of context without any caption. Did they not ask for one, or did you fail to provide one? Have you any sympathy with the suggestion that the image, given the theme, promotes a negative racial stereotype?
I’m interested in your thoughts and of course am happy to publish them.
Well done in getting on the masterclass, alongside some wonderful photographers and I would imagine great teachers.
Best
Benjamin
Author — duckrabbit
duckrabbit is a production company formed by radio producer/journalist Benjamin Chesterton and photographer David White. We specialize in digital storytelling.
Discussion (14 Comments)
Oh deary me. Not good. Unfortunately, still far too many young photogs out there going to far away places with a load of kit but not well equipped.
Totally Rob. But who is to blame for that?
“…far too many young photogs out there going to far away places with a load of kit but not well equipped.”
Couldn’t agree more.
There’s nothing wrong with photo schools, but many (probably the great majority) of the photographers that I respect the most studied history or anthropology or economics or politics at university, not photography.
What’s that quote from Tod Papageorge? “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not reading enough.”
Hmm.
Stark contrast to your previous post about Finbarr. Not only excellent images from Mr O’R but well thought out captions too. That old saying “a picture’s worth a thousand words” – well it might be the case, however it helps immensely if the author of the images can provide his own accurate words in the form of caption. Because in the absence of such ‘truth’ any old pile of tosh can be attached to a picture and it becomes incredibly difficult to separate tosh from truth.
Cue ‘respect’. What?
I suspect in reality there was a protestant mischief maker about at TWP who wanted to poke fun at that wee catholic lad on the right with the Celtic jacket. Bl**dy religious nutters. Mind you I dont think its the Bogside thats pictured, but things may have changed there since my last visit, what with asylum seekers and all that.
See what happens when there’s no proper captions…….
NONE of the other pictures seem to have any caption too. I think they just made a mistake. There’s a space for them, and there usually is a caption. They just forgot about it.
But YOU think that they are making some kind of stereotyping why are you so angry man?
Hi Bob,
How can I have been so silly. Because none of the other pictures have captions this can’t be an example of racial stereotyping? Thanks for clearing that up.
How is World Press Photo’s failure to post the provided caption a reflection on how us photographers operate?
It is true that many photographers do not educate themselves thoroughly on their subjects, but understand that the industry does not provide us with the luxury of spending months or years living with and studying our stories. The only possibility for this is through personal stories that we spend years working on, with no intention of making any sort of profit. For other assignments that we do to earn a living, there is only so much time we can spend researching and being on the ground with our subjects. It’s unfortunate, but a reality.
Check back to the Joop Swart section to see that they added [minimal] captions.
And Ben, I’m still not seeing the racial stereotype.
PS I sent you a response email. Perhaps I should just post the entire thing here?
Hi Antonio,
THANKS for your response. Great. Now we can have a conversation, which is important. Promise to post your email in full within the post but I’m training today.
Thanks once again.
Benjamin
I would add, if possible, another element of analysis to the ongoing discussion. And I think the example given, the work from Antonio Bolfo, can help me. During the last festival in Perpignan, observing the works done in Haiti and in Japan, I reflected on the theme of respect, dignity and representation. After the earthquake, the country of Haiti, as well as the entire population, has been represented, in my opinion, in the worst way possible. We have certainly seen interesting works, but perhaps not so many described the dignity of a population crippled by years of political, socio-economical and climatic problems. Few photographers told the dictatorship in the country or economic development controlled by the few families, just as no one ever raised the issue of military presence of MINUSTAH, which has led to many problems among the population. After the earthquake, from the photographic point of view, we had an explosion of images, very homogeneous images.
Following the disaster in Japan, the images we saw were not only respectful of the population, but most of the images told about the strength of a people in responding to such disasters. Personally I have not seen one photo of a dead body or anything close to the representation of Haiti after the earthquake. Overcoming cultural and social differences of these two countries, which are surely important, but what I would be interested to share with you starts from the issue introduced by Benjamin on the possible racial prejudice of TWP: if the photojournalist decides to exploit the most of a tragedy, a dramatically situation, depending on the culture where the problem develops. There is also the media issue. Media and newspapers, perhaps asked a lot “raw” images for Haiti but not for Japan. If only it were so, then it would mean that the photojournalist has “bowed” himself to the demands of the market? I have many other concerns about this, but perhaps what I have said may be enough for the discussion ..
Thanks..
L
Really interesting comment Luca.
Thank you so much.
While I of course cannot speak for Mr. Bolfo, I think what often happens is a photographer goes into a situation where some injustice is in evidence, with the hope of helping things get better–natural urge, and probably why most of us got into it in the first place.
Then, in there, photographer feels this immeasurable respect for these strong, resilient human beings arraying themselves before her/his lens, because s/he can see them acting in all these relatable ways; they ARE fellow human beings, after all.
But in the taking pictures of them, these perfectly respectable people are somehow reduced to subjects, to the mere symbols in another set of pictures about sad poor people.
The problem here comes I think not in the motivation or the taking of the pictures, but in the editing and presentation, which too often falls back on the easy grammar of what ‘powerful’ pictures of sad, poor people must look like.
This will especially be true when one image or a small handful are selected to convey the gist of a body of work.
We all want to get past the constraints of singles or just a few pictures needing to communicate a whole story (that’s why God and Al Gore gave us the internet, after all, right?), but somehow it’s still not happening.
Edit is the new shoot.
And however well you shoot and edit, however pure and well-read your intentions, you’re still going to get squeezed when some intern slots a few of your images into a story about your work/topic). Because they’ll always go to the ‘shorthand’ pictures.
I’d quite like to know how many non-caucasians are hung on the wall at visa pour l’image, and how many are in attendance? Maybe i’m being silly and racial stereotyping abit, but aren’t all photographers white, university educated, often have more than one name and don’t really do it for the money, they have enough of that already? God, what selfless philanthropists they all are!
So, is the photographer to receive an award for interpreting a culture completely out of context, I guess it depends if they’ve paid the £50 entrance fee to the right bunch of taste makers in-order to make their work a much more viable commodity. Well, well, and all because a nice pictures a bit more tasteful than a bundle of used notes covered in African blood.
Why not investing in training the Locals to represent themselves rather than pander to a cultural system which keeps them repressed?