We had written about the paucity and poverty of images and narratives from and about Pakistan. That sad saga continues...
The New York Times features the work of photographer Zackary Canepari, in a slideshow titled The Heart of Punjab.
The picture above bears the caption:
"Students at a seminary school in Dera Ghazi Khan, a gateway both to Taliban controlled areas and the heart of Punjab, police and local residents say. As cooperation between insurgent groups intensifies, places like Dera Ghazi Khan are particularly vulnerable."
Is that all Zackary Canepari saw? Why did he go to Punjab? How would a Punjabi express herself in photo?
Photo: © Zackary Canepari / The New York Times
4 comments:
What did you want him to see? I see a haunting, beautiful portrait of boys being boys. This to me does convey the essential humanity of Pakistan. It's an intimate look into a child's eyes--not some threatening, flag burning protest. So what if the caption seems a bit fatalistic? Pakistan IS seriously threatened. You'd be a fool to think otherwise.
Yes, the humanity and empathy of the photo is contradicted by the caption. Yes, Pakistan faces serious challenges. But that also poses a challenge to perception and communication. And that would surely be at the root of any meaningful resolution.
You're defeating yourself by questioning the use of a non-Punjabi photographer. I think I took umbrage with this because sometimes the most perceptive eye is an outsider's. Just take the US and de Tocqueville, for a classic example. I became distracted from your original point, which is a valid one: that perception and communication matter. And here the fault lies with a murky caption. Focus on that, not whether or not a Punjabi photographer would present Pakistan more honestly.
I have no objections to "outsiders". We are all "insiders" in humanity. The point I was trying to make be referring to a Punjabi - and a woman at that - was: how does a local see things? Local people go about their daily life. What worries them? What enthuses them? EMPATHY - is what I was seeking. Simply putting the pics by themselves, unaccompanied by the captions would have been better. The pics are hostage to the shrill political agenda that the captions are playing out.
Art Futures Kolkata
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