Essay on Suffering in Photographs

“It’s not pretty exactly. It’s astonishing. It fills the eye. It commands you,” (81) is a quote from Tim O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried. This quote shows how war can affect an individual through taking over one’s body and mind. War affects everyone in different ways, but it is impossible to understand how war affects each and every single person. The texts and forms of art communicate different ideas to the viewer. It is through interpreting these texts that humans get a better idea of the overall impact of war. When individuals experience war, they lose their innocence and morality. This will be evident through “How to Tell a True War Story,” “The Wound,” and “Machine Gun.”

An artist's job is to interpret, and express the aspects of life in a creative fashion. War has played a big part in shaping our human history, and many artists have portrayed their feelings about art through paintings, and even monuments. Whether it be to show; the joy of victory, the sorrow of defeat, or to educate the public on the gory realities of war. Art about war can also show us a great amount of history of the kinds of weapons that were used at the time. It is necessary for artists to interpret, and criticize all aspects of life; even ones as tragic as war, It can make the public more aware of what goes on in times of war.

These include the images that are released to the news, newspapers, and even textbooks. There is a certain photographer, Christoph Bangert, mentioned in Source D who takes photos of war scenes, calling these pictures “war porn”. He uses that term not because he believes it is war porn, but to undermine the argument. “You can always say that this… is dehumanizing, but I think it’s too easy to call these pictures pornographic or voyeuristic. If you say it is morally wrong to look at them, you avoid being confronted with these events.” He says that we must be confronted with the events that occur in wars, so that we may be able to accurately remember history. Bangert offers us a scenario when saying, “Just imagine if nobody had published pictures of the Holocaust or of the liberation of the Nazi camps. That would mean that it would be very difficult for us to remember these events.” This is true, and very significant to our society and history. These images show us knowledge, and allow us to prevent future cruelties, all following Sontag’s

The “Image of War” written by Antony Lee reflects on the works of Gardner's “Photographic Sketch Book” as a way to give people a reality checks on politics. During the Civil War the North fought the South over the freedom of slavery to create a society where everyone has equal opportunities. Gardner uses landscape photos to expose the evil of politics and how it affects people throughout the causalities of war. For example “The Home of A Rebel Sharpshooter Gettysburg” shows the result of bad politics by turning fellow Americans against each other. The photo has a grayish coloring off to the distance which gives the photo a sinister appearance. However, the body lying on the ground looking up at the heavens implements viewers with the idea

He argues that this desire to see the stories of war comes from the same place as the desire to watch an apocalyptic movie. The description of these war pictures very much resembles one of a movie: “as if a struggle for good against evil might be being played out before the camera, with elements of heroism, bravery, betrayal, and cowardice, and with winners and losers” (Ritchen, 2). To see war is to see the closest thing to a movie in real life. This is supplemented by the desire to share the photos that resides in the photographer. Ritchen argues that there is a promise made when a photograph of such atrocities is taken: that it will be shared and given its best chance of reaching the eyes of someone who can change this, or someone who can prevent it. This gives evidence to the point that the author is not arguing, on the surface, a surprising choice; but this does, in its own way, give the author a greater credibility. By acknowledging the ‘other’ side, he humanizes them and changes the essay from simply arguing a point to an article that explores the idea of this debate and culminates to a decision. When we are being told to believe something, those that give a healthy dose of skepticism see red flags go up; but when we are led through the author’s ideas and how he comes to that stand, we can come to the same conclusion naturally. This also gives the idea that

Many artists through time have used art to express emotion or a standpoint, and Francisco de Goya can surely be classified under this category of artist. Famously known for his controversial relationship with the Spanish government the audience may conclude that many of his painting will have a connection to the dispute. For example, in “Still Life with Golden Breams” most people may see it as a well made still life of lifeless fish but in reality, it holds a deeper meaning. For instance, when someone gets the opportunity to observe this composition they could say that the inability for the Golden Breams to close their eyes reminds the viewer of how the fish were ones alive. That is to say Goya probably made this still life to symbolize

Goya made a series of etchings and paintings depicting the atrocities of both sides involved with the war. The most famous of these paintings are the two depicting the scenes from the second and third of May. The work focuses on the victims of the situation, which in this case are the Spanish citizens being executed. The work is not meant to be beautiful, but is instead supposed to be horrible in order to shock the viewer. Goya's purpose within the painting is less to blame the French, but instead to point out to people the "faceless and mechanical forces of war itself, blindly killing a representative of humanity"(Stokstad). He used the incident as an example of how horrible war is and what can happen when violence is instituted.

war. He conveys war in its most brutal form giving the soldiers a machine like quality.

Images, such as paintings and photographs, are intensely visually striking and evoke strong emotions in those who view them.“Into the Jaws of Death” provides a perfect example of that intensity, having been taken by Robert F. Sargent during the early morning hours of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Even today the famous photograph evokes strong emotional reactions in many people who view it. This photograph served a purpose more significant than was realized at the time, to the point of becoming a pivotal point in support for the war effort. How was this accomplished? By conveying personal themes of heroism, patriotism, and mortality through devices such as angles, colors, uniforms, and proxemics.

‘A picture says a thousand words’ this analogy often refers to photographs with immense amount of detail and meaning that it doesn’t need words or any description to exemplify its context. A photograph in particular engages an indicative role into promoting an issue that’s typical of the time. A photograph that highlights copious meaning is evident in Lawrence Beitler’s ‘Lynching of young blacks’. A role of a photograph is to provoke emotions and empathise within the subject of the picture. To do so, famous photographs often accommodate numerous conventions including the historical context, symbolic codes and technical codes. These codes and conventions operate simultaneously to epitomise the significance behind a

The violent markings of the photo album and its images, however, produce an equally powerful message that jars the memory as it disrupts and distorts the photographic chronicle of her life and that of her family and friends. The result is a complex visual experience that addresses the use of images in producing knowledge and making history.

In a compassionate project, the painful imagery is the furthest imagery from what I am aiming for. James Elkins wrote Lingqi the last chapter of his book What Photography is? as an attempt to understand the meaning of this unbearable type of imagery. He looks at four pairs of the most painful intolerable images he can find of Lingqi and asks the reader to try and look at them slowly and carefully and as if they are looking at any other photograph included in the book. Although I was advised not to look at them carefully as asked by the writer, I had to flip over the pages and read the text. I had a quick glance at the images and soon I realised that they are very disturbing that I’ve felt emotionally attacked.

“War Photographer” by Carol Ann Duffy, is a powerful thought-provoking poem, describing the experiences of someone whose job is to capture terrible crimes against humanity in a photograph. The poem deals with themes such as isolation, war and suffering. With the clever use of effective language and poetic techniques Duffy encourages the reader to explore more deeply the life they live and to feel grateful for all they have. Throughout the course of “War Photographer” the reader is lead to sympathise with the photographer, it is written from his perspective and the trauma he puts himself through daily is evident.

A week later, he learned that the pictures he had taken were considered the best images anyone had made of the invasion. However, an excited darkroom assistant, while drying the negatives had used on too much heat causing the film emulsion to melt before his eyes, running down the hanging strips before he could do anything. Out of the one hundred and six images Capa had taken only eight survived. Yet, when those few photos were published around the world, they caused a sensation. They were first photographs taken from the inside of a war, from the midst of a great battle. The faulty drying too had somehow added a special quality to them, one that lifts them out of that specific time and place, making them universal images of war. Many publications added a caption to these photos, to explain to readers why they were blurred and slightly out of focus. It read simply: “Capa’s hands were badly shaking.”

Susan Sontag said photographs sends across the harmlessness and helplessness of the human life steering into their own ruin. Furthermore the bond connecting photography with departure from life tortures the human race. (Sontag 1977:64)