Pedram Pirnia review of Grace's Song

Anthony Maturin book called Grace’s Song and the Village poets is a sepia window to poverty in South Africa; Maturin while celebrating human dignity through his photography has managed to beautify poverty and evoke spirituality.

 

The problem with photography like every other art form is the implication that we know the world. One of the characteristics of the camera is its truth telling capacity – when we take a photograph we claim we know. This is the very opposite of understanding the world which starts from not accepting the world the way it looks. We know now that if there is a possibility of understanding the world it is rooted in the ability to pose questions and perspectives that claim to know the world. Understanding is based on how something functions and functioning takes place in time and must be explained in time. What photography does is that it duplicates the realities of the world and by doing that it makes the world and the truths about the world more available to us. The camera is the arm of consciousness. To photograph is to appropriate the subject photographed. The photographer, the artist claims that (s)he knows.

 

Photography is the inventory of morality. With the camera we record the injuries of our time and the wounds of our society. Life is about continuation but photography is about the moment and collecting that eternal moment. At the same time instead of just recording the realities of the world around us photographs have become the norm for the way things appear to us, thereby changing the very idea of reality and the very world around us.

 

The power of images is probably stronger in developing countries and that is because millions of people are illiterate and poorly educated; in circumstances as such photographs open windows and become powerful tools of communication. Photographs make it possible to form an opinion on events and appeal to a sense of involvement. Honest information is at the core of sustainable development.

 

People need access to information to develop as individuals and raise their productivity. They need to know what is going on so they can apply pressure on their leaders to effect change. Unrestricted gathering of news and freedom of expression are the pillars of democracy.

 

Although Maturin’s book is divided into four themes: Work and play, Devotion, Ceremony, Transition and Home we can see that he has particularly focused on gender and the environment - two themes not easy to capture in photographs. The result is a series of photo reportages illustrating the living conditions of the people in that part of the world and the intolerable environmental pressure.

 

Time and time again it has been proven that in the long term the only way to tackle poverty is to change the power structures that maintain inequality between men and women. This means that women need to be educated and women and girls must be given reproductive and sexual rights, learn a trade, practice a profession and participate in social and political life.

 

Maturin’s photos remind us strongly that we need to protect nature and the environment and preserve biodiversity in order to guarantee the continued existence of our planet. We cannot live without forests and clean drinking water and must continually seek a balance between economic growth, environmental conservation and social development.

 

Finally another striking aspect of the book is Maturin’s attempt to add an indigenous voice. The poems through out the book allow the reader to obtain a ‘sense of the personal and individual’ and they make the photographs come to life.

 

It is wonderful to see different themes so well represented in Maturin’s book. I am sure it will be of inspiration to many and will make many think about what they can do to make the world a better place in which we can live.

 

Pedram Pirnia | Senior Policy and Research Officer 

Council for International Development

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