I visited Photoville on two occasions. The first time I, the professor introduced us to Ryan Jones, a photojournalist who has worked with the New York Times. Ryan has been covering the opioid epidemic for several years. His installation focused on his recent work in New York City. He talked about how to approach the story without exploiting the people in his images.
Pictures with people shooting up drugs and or under the influence can sometimes feel like exploitation. His pictures depict serene moments of compassion, regret, and accomplishments. Ryan also talked about journalism language that surrounds stories. he was careful not calling people, subjects or even using the word “shot” when it came down to snap pictures. He respected the wishes of the people he was covering. He mentioned that one person didn’t want their name attached to his pictures because she feared that in the age of the internet she would have trouble finding a job in the future once she got cleaned.
Another exhibition I enjoyed was the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality. This nonprofit advocacy organization wants to shine a light to the human rights violations and displacement of the Arab-Bedouin in Palestine. This project consisted of pictures taken the Arab-Bedouin woman.
Maryam Abu Al-Qian is one of the few women photographers who were able to attend this event due to the current immigration laws in the United States and Israel. She says that there are too many hurdles for people like her to travel abroad. Even if they are educated like her. Aside from the pictures, there is a video of a scuffle between Israeli forces and her community playing on repeat. She mentions is the day her cousin was murdered by an Israeli soldier. It becomes too hard for her to watch so we step out. All she can do is pray her village does not get displaced in the near future.
Tal Avrech is Jewish Israeli and one of the organizers of the project. She says that it is important for her a woman with a privilege to bring attention to this subject. Tal was surprised to find out this was happening in her country. Israeli education or the government don’t mention these type of incidents. It wasn’t until she traveled abroad that she learns about the huma rights violations that are happening in her native country. She hopes this gallery serves as a means to educate other Israeli Jews living in New York City as it did to her.
The second and last time I went to Photoville was to see “For Sama”, a documentary film about the war in Syria. This film was produced in 2016 as Donald Trump was taking office. The film follows Waad Al-Kateab, a freelance journalist and her husband, who happens to be one of the last doctors during the uprising in Aleppo.
At the end of the film, Lucy Wescott with the Committee to Protect Journalist(CPJ) conducted a Q&A with journalist and activist writing about Syria. This might have been the highlight of Photoville for me. It was a powerful film and an amazing panel. I hope to catch Photoville next year as these projects have raised the bar for my journalism career.
Notable Mentions: The Bronx Documentary Center.