Pictures for Change: Representing the Majority World - famine, photojournalism and the politics of place is a project that discusses,
The photograph and the politics of place in the majority world: This section critically analyses photographic representations of the majority world and the relationship to public imaginations of place. It evaluates the long term political and economic advantage of the publisher and discusses the implications of cultural misunderstanding.
Imaging Famine: This section includes a detailed chronological and critical study of photographic representations of famine by international development agencies and the newsprint print media since the invention of photography. It contrasts and compares cultural, political and economic motivations for depicting major nineteenth and early 20th century atrocities with a major case study from the1958-62 Chinese famine which went unrecorded.
Live Aid to Live 8: The final section describes and discusses events that led to the 1984 Buerk and Amin report from Ethiopia and the subsequent Live Aid event. It critically analyses the accelerated growth of NGO’s in the aftermath and their understanding of and reliance on, images. In contrast to this development the section explores and evaluates the evolution of NGO image guidelines and their effect on the publics perception of place after 20 years of imposition. A case study from Mali critiques one NGO’s efforts to impose ethical image control through the organisations brand image. The section also debates the uneasy yet essential relationship between NGO and photojournalist and analyses the influence of the global image economy on image constructions of food security.
Please refer to the Abstract
for a more detailed description.
Timescale and Outcomes
The project started in October 2002 and is due to continue through
to December 2007 when a final report/book will be published. The project
has also produced a touring exhibition, website, catalogue and conference (see imaging famine).
Researchers
The project is being undertaken by photographer/academic D J Clark
in co-operation with Professor David Campbell (University of Newcastle
upon Tyne). D J Clark is currently a senior lecturer on the MA
Photography at the University of Bolton.
Please refer to D J Clark for
a more detailed biography.
