Andrea Bruce has documented the world’s most devastated area's working as a photographer for The Washington Post. In this particular photograph that I chose to share she has entered the poverty stricken world of a refugee camp located in Kabul, Afghanistan. She reveals to us the burial ceremony of a tiny baby boy, Khan Mohammad. Family members gather around the baby to mourn his short lived life. The caption in this photo explains how Khan Mohammad had frozen to death in his tiny mud hut earlier that morning.
The frail, limp and naked body of this very obviously deceased baby immediately shocks any viewer of this photograph. It's disturbing nature can deliver sympathy to any eye it reaches. I think this photograph was meant to inform the world of the current issues those who live in these conditions are faced to deal with every day. After reading the article that follows the series of photographs, I learned that this was the ninth baby this winter who had froze to death overnight in this particular refugee camp. Andrea Bruce wants us to understand the suffering of these people not just by the text in her article, but also by actually experiencing their grief by viewing this album as a whole.
It is my personal opinion that this photograph needs to be in a series to be fully understood by its onlooker. As shocking as it is, one cannot get enlightenment as a whole by just this single picture. As you click through the series, you see just how much snow really engulfs the tiny huts that the occupants of these camps are forced to live in. One caption reads "thirteen people live in this one room hut in the Charahi Qambar camp." The hut shows the family peaking out through the open archway where a door should be, and snow enters into their living space as well as outside temperatures. This photograph has really opened my eyes to current issues in Afghanistan. As an album, Andrea Bruce has changed how I may display others less fortunate in my work in the future.
(I chose the sixth photograph in the series)
(I chose the sixth photograph in the series)
Thank you for thoughtfully discussing a very difficult photograph.
ReplyDelete