Tanya Habjouqa: On reevaluation and responsibility
In this episode, we talk with Tanya Habjouqa about reevaluation and responsibility. Tanya shares how her Circassian background motivates her work as she feels the diasporic community’s story was never told. She reflects on how the process of printmaking has allowed her to forge a deeper physical connection with her art which can be healing. Tanya explains the countless ethical considerations involved in photographing Palestine including the topic of embedding as well as the targeting of journalists. She also discusses the different levels of involvement and responsibility involved in photographing a community and the impact of parachute journalism.What you’ll find inside: “I need to care about the community that I’m photographing, there needs to be a stake a personal stake.” (13.17)On printmaking: “There was something healing about that process but it was also just wow I can take a faint archival picture I can utilise images that I could not in our traditional photography realm.” (14.29)On art books: “It was this moment where I understood I was in a position where I could bring my documentary work and ethics but find new ways of layering bringing in history and overlaying texts.” (15.16)“The community who’s story you’re telling they should recognise themselves. You should invest time before picking up your camera, I really see photography as an intellectual practice.” (19.24)“You have the power and the responsibility of that archive, I don’t think you shouldn’t take the picture. Sometimes if there is something happening take it and then carefully carry that close to you and unpack where that should go or if it should go.” (21.02)“I think we have a responsibility to try to innovate in our image making and to be as layered and nuanced as possible.” (39.22)What does photography ethics mean to Tanya? “It’s a process of being thoughtful, evolved emotionally intelligent human beings and understanding that this is not a right, you worked very hard to get access. You can tell there’s a difference between a parachute journo drop in snapshot, you can tell when you’ve been invited into the house and that there’s a degree of trust it’s very clear in the image and what’s reflected. It’s just a constant evaluation checking in with stake holders. There’s no key formula you also end up developing an intuition and trusting your intuition.” (40.33)Links:The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America by Sarah LewisDarcy PadillaMaureen CumminsSean HillenThe Book as the Trojan Horse of Art: Walter HamadyBetty BrinkThese macaques are used for entertaining. They’re also endangered.Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots
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47:00
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47:00
Tiffany Fairey: On visualising peace
In this episode, we talk with Tiffany Fairey about visualising peace. Tiffany warns of the dangers of binaries and hierarchies in terms of the different forms of photography as it negates the importance of different perspectives. She highlights the complexity of the politics of visibility and the ethical considerations required when marginalised groups become visible through photography. Tiffany also explains peace photography and how it can be used to depict a desired future in contexts where conflict is still present.What you’ll find inside: “I felt really uncomfortable I guess about this idea of who’s taking the pictures and who’s telling the story. That idea that taking photos of someone is almost like putting words into their mouth.” (7.37)“Often in these projects a lot of the kind of benefits and the outcomes aren’t really anything to do with the image… really about facilitating something beyond the photography but also facilitating through and via photography.” (12.28)“It’s not like peace photography is against war photography and we must have one or the other. I think there’s a danger sometimes in photography that we have to think in terms of binaries or in terms of hierarchies.” (16.06)“The politics of visibility basically can not be straight forward when you’re working with groups that are traditionally silenced suddenly becoming visible and having their stories heard. It’s complicated as well because a lot of the times they’re not listened to, so there’s dangers of raising expectations that can’t be met through these projects. We’ve had complications around finances as well.” (22.25)“Within peace photography that is one of the key considerations are these images to be shared or not? There shouldn’t be an assumption that these projects are always about sharing images.” (32.31)“I think the idea of peace photography is asking us to really reassess what we think of as visually significant.” (40.17)“A photography of peace can make visible all these elements of peace that we might not always consider.” (41.03)What does photography ethics mean to Tiffany? “Essentially for me ethics means accountability and transparency in how you deal with others and communicate your work. There’s always the danger that the language of ethics end up obscuring what is actually happening, we can make it more complicated than it is. I worry a lot about people talking the talk about ethical photography but we don’t always walk the walk and it’s not simple to do that. I would say it’s this idea of ethics being grounded in transparent and accountable relationships with the people that we work with.” (41.52)Links:PhotoVoice Street Vision Anna BlackmanVoices in Exile TAFOS FotokidsNancy McGirr Ingrid Guyon PhotoVoice Statement of Ethical Practice - PhotoVoice - Projects, Training, Photography and Consultancy for Social ChangeLiz OrtonPeace Photography Guide | Imaging PeaceImaging Peace Everyday Peace IndicatorsAriella Azoulay
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43:42
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43:42
Kimbra Audrey Lo: On healing
In this episode, we talk with Kimbra Audrey about healing. Kimbra shares how her self-portraiture practice is a way to reclaim power over her image and body after years of modelling. She discusses documenting her breast cancer journey through photography as well as the current issues with breast cancer representation in terms of race, gender and age. Kimbra challenges the phrase taking a photo as she incorporates sustainable practices into her work, trying to give rather than take. She also explains her decision to takes self-portraits nude as a way to distance herself from the fashion industry. What you’ll find inside: “I think that consent is the most important part of the relationship between any model and photographer and that clear boundaries should always be established before you even shoot. Also, clear explanation of where the images will be.” (7.50)“I learned to love of all of my feelings and the complexities of my emotions through my self-portraiture. I feel like in modelling I loved the parts that fit into patriarchal values.” (10.58)“It was also very healing to love my body when it was at its weakest and most sick and most vulnerable. And be able to find strength and empowerment in moments that were really really horrible and difficult.” (13.16)“But it can be hard to draw the line in the middle range of like green washing or also I’ve discovered more recently pink washing which is essentially the same thing but for breast cancer… you really do have to dig deeper and find your own personal compass.” (18.43)“Just the phrase take a photo I have always had issue with because I’m not taking anything. I’m making I’m creating I’m making a self-portrait, I don’t want to take anything. I approach my photography the same way I approach everything in life and I want to give.” (20.22)What does photography ethics mean to Kimbra? “Photograph ethics are not separate in any way from my life ethics. Also really specifically in my situation because of the nature of my work and the self-portraits being so insular and solitary they are a representation of who I am … love, kindness and self-responsibility I focus on what I can do and that I think is reflected in my work.” (30.49)Links:Model AllianceThe Sustainable Darkroom
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33:30
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33:30
Jesse Alexander: On creative sustainability
In this episode, we talk with Jesse Alexander about creative sustainability. Jesse discusses the nuances of rurality and place making as well as the urban bias present in landscape photography. He also explains how idealised images of agriculture are disconnected from their polluting impact. Jesse shares his ethical approach which focuses on the general messaging of his work and lowering his own consumption. He speaks on the ethical framework at Falmouth University, which invites reflection and innovation while allowing students to learn without shame. What you’ll find inside: “There is I think a very very inherent urban bias in landscape representation. It sort of links to other things like enclosure acts and a very distorted appreciation of the land in a very broad sense.” (9.11)“These images are really really pervasive I think, particularly around agricultural actually and its very disconnected. Unfortunately, the majority of agricultural practices are really bad, really polluting… the dominant narratives are quite different.” (12.06)“Does it increase consumption basically in a bad way? That’s sort of my core fundamental approach, the priority has to be about thinking about the messaging.” (16.24)“I do think if ethics are so far at the front and in such big bold letters then I think it can be a bit kind of restrictive. So, I think the thing I say is the MA course is a safe space to make mistakes.” (25.47)“At the time I kind of had a distinction between ethics and sustainability and then since that time I’ve really realised that actually they are two sides of the same coin.” (32.17)What does photography ethics mean to Jesse? “I think it is ultimately what your practice says, and what it says about you as well. Whether it is in like the really obvious messaging of the work or actually the kind of very subtle ways of how you go about working. I think it really does actually filter into all of those choices you make as a practitioner.” (43.35)Links:David Campany Paul SeawrightPaul Graham: Troubled Land Clive Landen The Digging SeasonAdGreenAlbertJesse Alexander Alice CazenaveDawn WoolleyTamsin Green
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45:36
Heather Agyepong: On embodiment and the self
In this episode, we talk with Heather Agyepong about embodiment and the self. She explains what reimagination means in her practice when representing black women in history ethically. Heather also explores the gatekeeping present in art and how this drives her to make her work visceral in order to transcend linguistic accessibility. She reflects on her decision to focus on self-portraits after witnessing the exploitative and distorted depictions of e-waste in Ghana. Finally, Heather talks about self-exploration through art and balancing this with establishing boundaries. What you’ll find inside: “It’s more about what I’m feeling and what sort of medium I need and then I fall into these different dimensions of making art.” (4.10)“I think the reason I make art is to trust myself and rediscover myself. I think for a long period of time there was just so many different layers of who I was which were just kind of projected on to me… my quest in making art is to start removing those layers and I guess whilst I’m removing the layers I’m trusting myself more.” (4.41)“There was something about looking back which helped me to understand my present circumstance, using these women from history to explore myself.” (6.22)“A violence sometimes happens with these women where because of the lack of knowledge, they are created as like caricatures or their lives are reduced in some sort of way. So if anything, it feels like I’m trying to kind of repair some of the violence that happens in those old images.” (7.55)“My work is not really about perfection it’s the intent and the intention of making something accessible.” (12.14)“There’s something about giving it up to the camera and trying to make the camera not a critical viewer … more like a witness or an observer. So you kind of take the power back from that gaze it becomes less of a critical observer more of just like someone witnessing you.” (16.40)“I think that work is always like the last chapter of something. Healing is a constant thing but in terms of that specific thing I’ve processed it I’ve got a revelation of something that’s happened, it doesn’t belong to be anymore.” (25:34)What does photography ethics mean to Heather? “An empathetic ear, selfless reflection and progress. I think the history of photography has been ethnographic, anthropological and I think that often haunted photography for a very long time. The progress idea is that we need to evolve from this idea that its truth or about othering. I think that photography at its best is about connectivity and I think that it’s the responsibility of the photographer to engage with those three things.” (36.08)Links:Raymond Thompson Jr.: On speculationHeather Agyepong: YaaHeather Agyepong: Through Motion Heather Agyepong: The Body Remembers Authentic Movement: Essays by Mary Starks Whitehouse, Janet Adler and Joan Chodorow by Patrizia Pallaro The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk
This podcast is all about the ethics of photography. Each week we will hear from an accomplished photographer about what ethics means in their practice. We will talk about how these photographers have handled challenging situations, we will hear how their different experiences have shaped the way that they use their camera, and we will ask the big questions to find out why they photograph what they photograph. We will cover topics like consent, dignity, power, responsibility, impact, and collaboration. This podcast is hosted by Savannah Dodd, founder of the Photography Ethics Centre.
Ireland