Abstract

Pictures for Change: Representing the Majority World – famine, photojournalism and the politics of place

Is a projectthat examines the political, cultural and economic implications of photographic illustrations of the majority world. The project considers how historical representations of food security and the formation of key compositions were repeated through the last century and how these compositions relate to a current public understanding of place. Through this discussion it critically analyses public consumption of such images and their resulting imaginations of the majority world.

Taking the1984 Ethiopian famine as a major turning point in NGO understanding and use of images the thesis will examine the visual representation policies created in the aftermath of the famine and the ongoing tension between the need to raise funds and ethical obligations to the NGO beneficiaries. It seeks to analyse both theoretically and empirically the effectiveness of twenty years of imposed image guidelines and the impact of the evolving global image economy. Using famine imagery as a case study the project will critically evaluate the relationship between NGO and photojournalist and discuss evolving methodologies of sourcing photographs.