Photography and Text by Anisha Arora, Copyright 2018
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BOOK REVIEW
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JOHN SZARKOWSKI: LOOKING AT PHOTOGRAPHS
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SHOES
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When talking about Lewis W. Hine, one of the photographers included in the book, the author writes that “he conceived of the medium as a means of studying and describing the social conditions around him”. That is also how I aim to use the art of photography- to bring to light difficult truths that we often want to forget.
What I found truly intriguing while reading the book was the variations between photographers. Variations in their purpose/objective behind photography, as well as, variations in what they found worth capturing on camera. While some find fashion photography to be their calling, some find it interesting to capture the mundane routines of common people. Among all the photographers, I could most relate to Lewis W. Hine.
Hine wanted to use photography to drive social change, and his pictures were a celebration of people who had nerve, skill, muscle, and tenacity. He captured the common people. That’s what I want to achieve through my photographs. His picture of little children on the streets, reminded me of a picture (attached as a jpeg) I happened to click while walking on a street in Ethiopia in the town of Harar. The picture is of a small 7-8 year-old boy splashing water over his face to cool down in the terrible heat. This water is generally used to clean people’s shoes. This boy, like many other 5-12 year-old boys, is a “shoe-shine” boy. These children leave their homes in Ethiopia’s rural areas to work in the big cities as shoe-polishers. They stay in deplorable living conditions, often beg for food and money, have never seen a school classroom and are most likely physically and sexually exploited. They save a part of their meagre incomes to support their families back in the rural areas, who make next to nothing from agriculture. What I find beautiful about this picture is that the boy seems so happy splashing the water on his face. This is normal life for him- he has forgotten his miseries and adapted to life on the streets.
I lived in Ethiopia for a year before school, working with the Ministry of Agriculture and Prime Minister’s Office on strategy and policy projects aimed at improving incomes of smallholder farmers. I’m hoping that some of my organization’s projects can raise agricultural incomes, so that more children don’t have to leave their families and can have a normal childhood.
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About The Author: Anisha Arora is enrolled in the Graduate program, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. To access additional articles by Anisha Arora, click here: https://tonywardstudio.com/blog/anisha-arora-roller-coaster/