This 14-year-old landmine victim has his gangrene-infected leg amputated with a blunt saw and a local anesthetic. He winced at times during the operation but he did not scream. Mae Sot, Thailand.
Monday, September 19, 2016
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Oh Christ, Jack. Your photos break my heart.
ReplyDeleteOh, sorry Lesley. I hope they are not too unsettling. I try to draw a line when the rawness of a photograph becomes gratuitous. Photography is such a subjective medium. There is a fine line at times when a photograph still has some value in being read -- before -- it transitions to the gratuitous. You could be experiencing Barthe's Punctum: The punctum is a detail or “partial object” that attracts and holds the viewer’s (the Spectator’s) gaze; it pricks or wounds the observer - emotionally. I was planning to finish my last ten photographs to complete this project with some of my photographs from war zones. I will choose more behind the lines images as opposed to the the frontline images. Still some people may find them emotionally 'wounding' in Roland Barthes kind of way.
ReplyDeleteRaw yes, gratuitous no. Unsettling yes, but that is as it should be. I think the impact was made somewhere between the image and the caption. It's made me wonder how I might have interpreted this photo if I'd known nothing about the situation except what I could see. I've always felt slightly damaged by the knowledge that landmines are not intended to kill, just wound beyond repair. I feel for this boy's future with a handicap of that magnitude. But that is from the caption. Without it there are just his eyes, and his position, as if on a crucifix.
DeleteYes. Heart-breaking. Very sharp. I reckon that's the point we all make. Not gratuitous rawness, but something like a phrase or image in a poem that brings you up short, the motor engine runs out of petrol, it's suddenly quiet, the waves are lapping, the wind is gathering, and you need to have a plan.
ReplyDeleteSharp and powerful even if very disturbing ... I'm part of an organization called HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL which helps these poor wounded and disable people (due to wars and ill treatment at work ... so much to be done for them... meanwhile weapons dealers are wealthier and wealthier ...
ReplyDeleteYes, agreed, wrenching and unsettling and intentionally so. Beautiful photo Jack, thanks for sharing it.
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