Project post-colonial ethnography

RESEARCH POINT

Do your own research into the bodies of work discussed in this project. Can you find any examples of work carried out amongst indigenous peoples that, in your view, honestly document the lives of their subjects without falling into some of the traps that we’ve been discussing here? If so, how has the photographer achieved this? (Open College of the Arts, 2014:64)

The “traps” that have been identified in Post colonial ethnographic photography:

Nostalgia – Romanticism of primitive beauty
Imbalances of power between photographer and subjects
Disciplinary cataloguing and comparing
Primitivism
Decontextualising
Infantising of non-industrial people

Peter Lavery’s work in “of humankind” does decontextualise his subjects; this seems to enhance the stereotyping, the power imbalance, cataloguing and comparing traps suggested above. Indeed even in the foreword of the book ‘Of Humankind’ by Robin Muir (2000) says that Lavery’s portraits remind us that photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and which no contrivance on earth can bring back”, underlining the nostalgic element of his photography.

(Of Humankind, 2000)

Conversely David Bruce’s work though sometimes posed against a backdrop is aesthetic, shot with dignity, and his subjects look empowered and generally look to be enjoying themselves.

Juan Echeverrria’s images of the OvaHimba tribe in Namibia could be interpreted as voyeuristic and decontextualised; whilst they are taken out of context they do have a realism about them and the subjects share some character and assertiveness.

Namibia_Paisajes_desde_el_tren (2021)

When searching for examples of work which don’t fall into the “traps” I returned to the work of George Rodger who took the image that struck me on the front of the Tribal Portraits catalogue. I was pleasantly surprised that although his work En Afrique was taken between 1947 and 1979 it avoids the pitfalls mentioned above; the nudity is in context, subjects are photographed in context and are certainly not romantised; indeed he gives detailed context with each image.

UGANDA. Wagasero girls wear strings of beads around their foreheads. 1948

(En Afrique by George Rodger, 2016)

I also thought back to a photographer whose work I came across when in the Philippines a couple of years ago, Eduardo Masferré (1909 – 1995) a Filipino-Catalan who made documentary reports about the lifestyle of native people in the region of the Cordillera of the Philippines in the mid 1950s. I was very struck with his work at the time, which is contained in his book people of the Philippine Cordillera (1988) and was interested how I would view it now I have studied these aspects of tribal photography.

Eduardo Masferre Paintings & Artwork for Sale (2021)

I was pleased to see that although there is a fascination with subjects smoking pipes, most of his images are shot with context in a documentary style which gives information about their way of life. Where there is partial nudity it appears as a natural part of their dress and the emphasis of the photograph is clearly not on this but another aspect, such as the girl with the pots on her head and the smoking woman above. Though there is the occasional image which seems to have been shot simply for the beauty of the subject female, male, old or young, there is no suggestion of imbalance of power between him and his subjects or infantizing of them. For work which was shot between 1947 and 1959. I would say the work is sensitive to the people and a good documentary record and agree with the review from the book cover that the people are shown with “strong faces that meet one’s gaze with great integrity – Masferre preserved all of these in timeless images that transcend ethnography and imbue documentary fact with deeper meaning.” (Masferre and Devilla, 1988).

References:

Eduardo Masferre Paintings & Artwork for Sale (s.d.) At: https://www.invaluable.com/catalog/searchLots.cfm?scp=m&ad=DESC&alf=1&issc=1&artistref=3tvi2dj9ip&shw=50&ord=2&row=51 (Accessed 14/01/2021).

En Afrique by George Rodger (2016) At: https://www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture/george-rodger-en-afrique/ (Accessed 13/01/2021).

Ju/’hoansi Bushmen (s.d.) At: https://davidbrucephotography.co.za/juhoansi-bushmen/ (Accessed 12/01/2021).

Masferré, E. and De Villa, J. G. (1988) People of the Philippine Cordillera: Photographs, 1934-1956. (s.l.): Devcon I.P. Incorporated.

Namibia_Paisajes_desde_el_tren (s.d.) At: https://www.flickr.com/photos/juan_echeverria_reportajes/sets/72157629307741656/show/ (Accessed 13/01/2021).

Of Humankind (2000.) At: https://www.peterlavery.com/of-humankind (Accessed 13/01/2021).

Open College of the Arts (2014) Photography 2: Documentary-Fact and Fiction (Course Manual). Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.

Next Post: https://nkssite5.photo.blog/category/learning-log-research-and-reflection/reflection/a4-reflection/my-learning-part-4/

PROJECT POST-COLONIAL ETHNOGRAPHY

Primitive typologies

Exercise 4.9

Browse the catalogue Tribal Portraits: Vintage and Contemporary Photographs from the African Continent, Bernard J Shapero Rare Books. Core resources: TribalPortraits.pdf

Write a brief reflective commentary in your learning log. (Open College of the Arts, 2014:96)

Tribal Portraits Vintage and contemporary photographs from the African continent, a catalogue from a sale of photographs in 2008 by Bernard J Shapero; the images were taken from 1856 to 2008 and the text states that is presents the images as art.

The cover image is full of promise, offering a different perspective. However from that starting point most of the images are stereotypical portraits of African people. Mostly the women are presented a full frontals, naked from at least the waist up and the images ae predominantly women. Vincenti’s late 19^th century images of men are one of the few exceptions. I was surprised to see Lehnert and Landrock African women photographed in obvious western style poses, but accept that these have their place in the history of tribal photography.

Its unfortunate that the images aren’t presented chronologically, as there is no progression or logic in the presentation. Contemporary photographers Malick Sidibe and Seydou Keita present a welcome relief to the stereotypical earlier photographs; but to call this a mixture of contemporary and historical tribal photography is misleading as most of the images are from 1856 to the 1950s and there are only a handful of 21st century images such as Graff’s and comparatively few late 20^th century images.

I also take issue with some of the captions such as item 9 Portrait study billed as an “unusual informal grouping” when in fact the women are they are sitting on western chairs and have obviously been arranged to a degree.

My favourite image is item 18 by Riefenstahl, the Nuba Dancers of Kau (1975); it is full of life and skilfully captures a vibrant and realistic picture, the nudity appears as natural as obviously was, there is context and it is unposed. Ricciardi’s images of the late 1960s in Kenya also have welcome life to them.

My conclusions, that there is obvious documentary value in the collection but we could learn more easily from the catalogue if the images were present chronologically or by region or even with more context; if presented in the former way we would at least be able to ascertain if there has been any progression in the photography. I guess the motivation was simply to sell the images and I should not wish for anything beyond that; it is however a good source of tribal photographs.