I took some time to look at Fazal Sheikh. He's a documentary photographer that prides himself on spending months at a time getting to know the culture of the people he photographs. I particularly like his work because somehow it transcends the tragedy that's being documented. He's spent time at refugee camps in Africa. He travels all over the world taking these amazing photographs. I think his photographs transcend the tragedy because he does spend months a time and getting to know the people beyond their tragedy and in doing that it forces the viewer to look beyond the tragedy and see the children as children, not merely as a charity case or someone to feel sorry for.
Sheikh does have a book on his website, http://www.fazalsheikh.org/06_the_victor/online_edition/start.php The Victor Weeps. The book is a combination of children's drawings, portraits and other documentary photos all taken in Afghanistan. For me, I think he understand that he isn't sole teller of the story. He takes time to engage the youth of the country and we also get to see things from their perspective. I appreciate this because as an artist it's easy to make oneself the center of attention, but he brings in others to help him tell the story.
2 comments:
Excellent. He does a nice job of getting out of the way of his message. All too often we see the photographer's ego trumping any possible good intentions, cloaked in some kind of false "concern." The camera/image can be a powerful tool for exploitation -- unfortunately there is a long history of this.
You are right; while he conveys the serious concern, he also transcends it. On of my favs. is Ramadan Moon. in this case the concern is displacement and the effect on the extended diaspora, yet the work doesn't get preachy. Instead becomes poetic, even meditative. its quite haunting, but it points right back to his subjects and their concerns, rather than the photographer.
The close ups are really nice. The lighting is perfect and I think it's interesting just how close he makes you view the people. Also, there's a slight blur or haze around the very edge of each person's face. I think this makes you focus more on the face, every detail.
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