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Editing can make all the difference, as shown in the pictures above. The "peaceful" protestors are seen here, confronted by the faceless antiriot police. I do not know much about this, but at first glance, it seems that the police are like robots. They have no faces and come in rows, like machine work. The people, women and men alike, are colorfully clad and unarmed. To the eye untrained by AIS, this picture is a fully true depiction. It's a clear picture, right?
Well, it's more complicated than that. I looked closely at the "good guys" and zoomed in. The seemingly all good civilian force is more diverse than that. Please refer to the pictures above. The left, a woman in pink, is asking for peace. On the right, a woman in the same "good" crowd, stands close fisted and seemingly yelling.
Even though I do not know the full story of what is going on in Egypt, I know it is complicated. Not everyone on the "peaceful" side is all that peaceful, and I cannot believe that the police are ruthless. My thoughts are with ALL those impacted by the goings on in Egypt. TIME reports via photoessay at http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2044357,00.html. Let me know if you find any more subtle details from these photos.
Glenna,
ReplyDeleteWhat powerful pictures. This reminded me of the photograph we talked about earlier in the year called, "The Soiling of Old Glory." Different angles, different crops, and different areas of focus truly do display varied truths.
What stands out to me most is the third picture. How the police are all almost identical, except for a few turned heads. They are all in the same color and striking the same pose. Then on the other side of the CLEAR and definitive line we see difference between each and every person. Notice that there is barely any persons wearing black in the other half of the crowd (not police). Everyones arms are flying every which way...expressing frustration, anger, and eagerness.
Great analysis of the picture. And thanks for commenting on my last post!
Wow. I think it is really interesting to see the difference between the top two pictures you selected. You are right that when you see the woman in pink she looks very peaceful! She doesn't look angry and her hand is in a gesture of peace. I would love to know more about what was going on here! Those police look kind of scary!
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ReplyDeleteThis is a really fascinating approach to writing a blog. Images are always cool to dissect. That said, you would be greatly helped by not just looking deeply that the structure of the photo but also look more in depth at the protest's causes, or even communicate a very basic understanding. It helps the reader very little to know that the unrest in Egypt is merely "complicated" and that neither side is purely good or purely evil.
ReplyDeleteA raised fist has long been a symbol of protest (violent and nonviolent) and solidarity, for all sorts of issues, from pro-socialist causes to women's rights to trade unions, gay rights, black power, white power... This may not be accurate, but my first association with a raised fist is peaceful protest for a civil rights-related issue.
This might be interesting to you:
http://www.docspopuli.org/articles/Fist.html
Looking at this image, it seems like the photographer tried very hard to show the protesters as very nonviolent, as many of the people are holding up peace signs or open handed gestures-- they may look riled up, but they don't appear violent, even if in reality they were. If you zoom in on the full-sized image, it doesn't appear a fist is even raised by the woman you're referring to-- she is holding on to the hand of the woman next to her and raising it.
The protests certainly have had violent parts to them, and you're right to point out that the police are human, too. But it would maybe make more sense to comment, perhaps, on the *absence* of violent-appearing individuals and why the photographer chose to do that. Raised fists are held by a couple people, but that more readily communicates "uprising" than "violence," so looking solely at what's IN the image doesn't seem to support your conclusion.
I don't know much about the history of Egypt, either, but to my knowledge, the 'president' Mubarak has been, essentially, ruling the country autocratically for 30 years, and people have recently started protesting, likely inspired by recent government upheaval in Tunisia. Just that small amount of context would make your blog post more interesting and would allow a better jump-off point for dissecting the photo.
I also wonder how much whether the protesters are violent matters, considering the motives behind the police/military of Egypt vs. the protesting citizens.
Thank you all for your input, it is much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteFor an update on the goings on in Egypt, please refer to: http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/02/02/egypt.protests/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1
MMarin-
You may very may be correct, and I greatly appreciate your input. I invite you to look past my words "close fisted" and read more deeply into the rest of the post, where I comment on the diversity of the crowd and the danger of accepting one artist's view (the photographer) as fact. Thank you for your suggestions, I will keep them in mind for future posts. :)