On November 7th, we visited two exhibitions at the Steven Kasher Gallery– “Welcome to Camp America” by Debi Cornwall and “Resurrection City, 1968” by Jill Freedman. It really struck out to me when I read about these two photographers and how they quit their jobs to bring out the voice of the oppressed through their photography.
Debi Cornwall, a civil right lawyer, focused on the prisoners of Guantanamo Bay. As mentioned in “In Guantanamo, Ensnared in the War on Terror” by Jordan G. Teicher, Guantanamo Bay was portrayed as the seaside paradise by the United States military for any service member who was posted there. In contrast, the rest of the world knew it as the detention center for people who were suspected of terrorism. The prisoners never got a fair trial and were often tortured inhumane ways. I was intrigued how the exhibit contrasted the images behind the prison- the “best place” for a US soldier and the dark side for prisoners. In most of her photographs’ captions, she mentioned “charges: never filed” or “charges: never filed in the US”. This was something to think about – after 9/11, these innocent men spent couple of years in the worst prison of America just because of their faith. This indicated that they were tried as “guilty till proven innocent” even though the US judicial system preaches the saying, “innocent till proven guilty”.
Also, Cornwall never photographed the prisoners with their face. Instead, all of her photographs had men having their backs on them. This could be interpreted in few ways. Military regulations in Guantanamo forbid photography of faces, so Cornwall tried to mock that rule by having the former prisoners show their backs while taking a picture. On the contrary, she could be making a statement that even though they are free, the horrors of the prison would always hunt them internally.
On the other hand, Jill Freedman quit her job in an advertising firm to join and photograph the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington DC. Besides taking pictures of protests and the highlights of the campaign, she mainly focused on picturing the daily lives of these people. As attached below, some of her photos were purely portraits of ordinary humans and their living conditions in the tents. According to “How a Photographer Illuminated the Plight of the ‘Invisible Poor’” by John Mason, Freedman wanted to challenge her audience by making the struggle of these ordinary Americans as the main focus.
The person in the portrait above was wearing what Muslims wear to their pilgrimage to Mecca. This could be an indicator that he was a member of Nation of Islam at that time. Also, this symbolized the movements and the protests in Washington D.C. as the pilgrimage for Poor People of America.
Even though Freedman’s photography was from 1968 and Cornwall’s from 2014, they both highlighted one major theme, oppression. No matter how many times one might say America is the country of the freedom, they are still people out there being treated unfairly and not given equal opportunity under the law.
