Image from 18th Street Website
Only a few days left to see the photo esssay “Guatemalan Forced Migration.” The images by Manuel Gil in collaboration with writer Óscar Gil-Garcia will be shown until November 30, 2007 at the 18th Street Arts Center located at 1639 18th Street in Santa Monica.
From the website:
“Guatemalan Forced Migration” consists of a series of photographs of Guatemalan forced migrants that challenge the normative approach to photographing refugees by mainstream media and international humanitarian organizations that stereotype women as domestics and men as bread winners. Manuel Gil’s photography, created in collaboration with writer Oscar Gil-Garcia, explores gender relations within contemporary society and transnational migrant communities. The project is a timely study that provides a critical response to the current U.S. anti-immigrant sentiment by increasing awareness of how forced migrants play a central role in the formal and informal labor economic sectors in host societies.
Here is a portion of the narrative describing the picture (shown partially) above:
In this second picture of Angelina and Flora, we asked both to look downward while facing opposite sides. Such a technique has been commonly used by journalists and humanitarian photographs of forced migrants that attempt to reflect a feeling of hopelessness and need for fundraising purposes. We attempt to replicate this dominant practice utilized to transform forced migrants into a commodity, but we stop short of doing so by asking them how they felt in being requested to pose for the camera in a particular space. When we asked Flora how she felt after taking this picture…
More information at the links below:
http://www.experiencela.com/Calendar/eventmore.asp?key=14610
http://www.18thstreet.org/_archives/2007/guatemalan/guatemalan.html
