The looking/not looking dilemma

Abstract

When confronted with images of war and other forms of human suffering, not looking is not an option, not only because we are permanently exposed to images but also because it would not seem to be a morally tenable position. However, looking at images of human suffering is often said to prolong this very suffering and to fix human subjects as victims. Especially when acts of violence have been committed in order to produce images of these very acts the relationship between viewing the images and participating in the acts of violence qua viewer appears to be uncomfortably close indeed. Thus, looking is not an option, either. This article, in the first part, engages with standard criticisms of photography, especially with accusations according to which photographs aestheticise that which they depict and desensitise their viewers. In the second part it discusses Alfredo Jaar's and Jeff Wall's work in order to show possible ways to circumvent the looking/not looking dilemma.

Holocaust education: contemporary challenges and controversies

“…While some critics, perhaps most famously Susan Sontag, have argued that the widespread proliferation of images of atrocity risks diminishing their impact through 'densensitising' viewers (Sontag 2003; see also Moller 2009), others argue that, more than any other medium, iconic images of atrocity retain enormous power. Susie Linfield, for example, argues compellingly that 'photographs of grievous history', 'of defeat and atrocity' '[tell us things we] urgently need to know'.…”

Whose names count? Jacques Rancière on Alfredo Jaar’s Rwanda Project

“…Discussions of Jaar's work in the field of politics and international relations, usually concentrate on the politics, ethics, and, occasionally, aesthetics of representation; in particular, whether events such as genocide can ever be adequately represented at all or are, rather, fundamentally 'unrepresentable' (Levan, 2011;Möller 2009Möller , 2010Reinhardt, 2007). Questions centre on whether it is appropriate, or not, for Jaar to employ 'Western-based art practice' to represent 'subaltern culture' (Mirzoeff, 2005, p. 87); what role visual representations of suffering might play in transforming viewers from 'consuming spectators' into self-reflective 'participant witnesses' (Möller, 2010); and the extent to which Jaar's art departs from the 'representational style' typically adopted in photojournalistic accounts of Rwanda (Möller, 2009, p. 792) and thus avoids some of the latter's worst excesses.…”

If Everyone with a Camera Can Do This, Then What? Professional Photojournalists' Sense of Professional Threat in the Face of Citizen Photojournalism

“…Other research has looked at journalists' and others' perceptions of citizen journalism (Niekamp, 2011;Pantti, 2013;Pantti & Bakker, 2009;Williams, Wardle, & Wahl-Jorgensen, 2011). Professionals' perceptions of citizen photojournalism vary from appreciation (e.g., Glaser, 2005;Gray, 2012;Pantti, 2013) to generally unimpressed, particularly regarding ethics and aesthetics (e.g., Garcia, 2012;Mahoney, 2012;Moller, 2009;Niekamp 2011;Pantti, 2013;Quart, 2008). However, no research to date attempts to specifically explore the degree to which photojournalists' threatened sense of professionalism is related to their perception of citizen photojournalism images.…”

“…that everyone can be a journalist" (Singer, 2011, p. 214). They define their "occupational turf " on their professional values, skills, and conventions (Abbott, 1988;Lowrey, 2006;Singer, 2003); and despite some appreciation toward citizen photojournalism (e.g., Glaser, 2005;Gray, 2012;Pantti, 2013), professionals say, they generally are unimpressed by the work of amateurs (e.g., Garcia, 2012;Mahoney, 2012;Moller, 2009;Niekamp 2011;Pantti, 2013;Quart, 2008). In the context of coexistence, competition, and professional threat, the focus of this study is to understand whether professionals' assessment of an image is impacted by a citizen photo credit.…”