Mirror - Art as Witness
Mirror - Art as Witness

Art reflects society. All art can be seen as mirroring the social mores, political realities and cultural contexts of its time. If not in subject, then in the manner of its production, or in the histories of its makers. Nowhere is this as apparent, as obvious, as in photography. The advent of photography in the 19th century irrevocably changed the way in which we viewed, accessed and understood the world.

With photography, the idea of art bearing witness to the passage and events of time took on a new shade of meaning – that of unaltered truth. From the 1920s onwards, as photojournalism grew in prominence, photography became a means to bring the realities of conflict and violence to the unaware, fostering sympathy, raising awareness or alternately offering critical commentary.

Today, we are all more aware than ever of how easily images can be manipulated. Yet we still believe, by and large, in the fidelity of a photograph that captures a single moment in time. This power that the photograph holds comes not just from what we see, or what is arresting and visible, but also from what we glean from it – the essence of other times, places and peoples that it reveals to us.

An aerial view of a huge crowd of people working in a mine. Makeshift ladders, bridges and people carrying heavy sacks are seen.
Sebastião Salgado, Gold Mine of Serra Pelada, Para State, Brazil, Silver gelatin print, 1986 | Courtesy of the Deepak Puri Collection

The Brazilian social documentary photographer Sebastião Salgado is known for his documentation of the human condition. Throughout his career, he has used his photographic projects to explore social and economic conditions in countries across the world, documenting the most isolated and neglected among us. This photograph forms part of a larger series entitled Workers: An Archaeology of the Industrial Age that includes 313 photographs from 42 types of workplaces in 26 countries.

What I want is to create a discussion about what is happening around the world and to provoke some debate with these pictures...I don't want people to look at them and appreciate the light and the palate of tones. I want them to look inside and see what the pictures represent, and the kind of people I photograph.
– Sebastião Salgado

What hidden or neglected truths does art bring to life?

What confrontations does it force upon us?

Is art about never averting our eyes?

About 40,000 conservancy and sanitation workers are employed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. These workers collect the city's garbage, sweep the streets, clean the gutters, load and unload garbage trucks and work in the dumping grounds. Discovering the dehumanising conditions that they lived and worked in, documentary photographer Sudharak Olwe sought to tell their untold story.

Four men stand around a pile of garbage. The man on the left is raking it while wearing a torn t-shirt, revealing part of his skeletal back. Another is leaning on a cart. There is a garbage truck in the background.
Sudharak Olwe, From the the series 'In Search of Pride, Dignity and Justice’, Archival pigment print, 1999-2000
The head of a young man, as if floating, surrounded by murky sewage water. He seems to be looking up.
Sudharak Olwe, From the the series 'In Search of Pride, Dignity and Justice’, Archival pigment print, 1999-2000
Four men stand around a pile of garbage. The man on the left is raking it while wearing a torn t-shirt, revealing part of his skeletal back. Another is leaning on a cart. There is a garbage truck in the background.
Sudharak Olwe, From the the series 'In Search of Pride, Dignity and Justice’, Archival pigment print, 1999-2000
The head of a young man, as if floating, surrounded by murky sewage water. He seems to be looking up.
Sudharak Olwe, From the the series 'In Search of Pride, Dignity and Justice’, Archival pigment print, 1999-2000
Snow

What I saw shook me to the core of my being...filled me with rage and shame. My rage and shame, their faith and trust, these are the forces that have impelled me to ‘search for dignity and justice’.
– Sudharak Olwe

The words love, respect and compassion are written on the top left of the poster. Top right is a sketch of a face. Below this are three images in a row. One is a person with their mouth covered with white tape that has the word “Freedom” written on it. Beside it is the word “of” written on a piece of paper and held behind bars. The third is a message notification with the word “speech” written in a speech bubble. Below this row is the text, “Show respect for everyone who works for a living, regardless of how trivial you may perceive their job to be. The illustration at the bottom which covers half the page is that of a girl seated with her head hanging. She has a defeated expression on her face and her hands are chained. She seems to have wings on either side of her. On her right wing are various symbols, including the peace sign, a hand in a fist and a judge’s gavel. On the left wing are words written in bold and different colours, including women’s rights, equality, privacy and fundamental rights. The words “our fight” are written, split on either side of her. Above her wings, the title “Human rights” is written in bold and red against the black background.

Sudharak Olwe's poignant photograph depicts the reality of the lives of 'modern' society's human scavengers. We, [as] privileged members of the societal order, cannot understand their suffering as attested by the photographer. It is too real for us, as mostly detached observers, to comprehend. However, this photograph provides a glimpse at the depth and darkness behind the 'pristine' world we see around us, through its raw quality. We wish to bring this reality to the forefront of society...depiction of books about sanitation in India, images of sanitation workers and moving depictions of the absence of light in their lives constitutes our 'board' of emotions.

A collage of black and white images including those of a dustbin, garbage, garbage trucks, people picking up garbage and a dark alley. The words sweat, waste, filth, human scavengers and pain are written in bold and white.

How does art bear witness to the experience of conflict?

How does it shape our politics?

What aspects do we record, what do we remember, what do we reflect upon?

Robert Nickelsberg’s first trip to photograph Afghanistan was in 1988 – at the close of a failed ten-year battle against the mujahidin that the Soviet Army had fought. He continued to document the country for the next three decades which was to eventually come together as the book Afghanistan: A Distant War.

In the foreground, a soldier in a tank is handing over a red flag to a smiling soldier standing below. In the background, men in uniform stand by the side of the road, watching as the tanks pass by.
Robert Nickelsberg, An Afghan soldier hands a flag in solidarity to a departing Soviet soldier, Kabul, C-type print, 1988 | Courtesy of the Deepak Puri Collection
Snow

I witnessed repercussions of the political and economic chaos rendered by the Great Game, the end of the Cold War, the rise of Islamic militancy, and the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan by U.S. and NATO forces.
– Robert Nickelsberg

A white box with an excerpt from Vladislav Tamarov’s “Afghanistan: A Russian soldiers story” superimposed over blurred images of the Afghanistan war.The text reads: “The photos I took in Afghanistan are lying in front of me. I peer into the faces of those who were with me there and who are so far away from me now, into the faces of those who were dying right next to me and those who were hiding behind my back. I can make these photos larger or smaller, darker or lighter. But what I can’t do is bring back those who are gone forever.”

Working as a TIME magazine photographer for nearly 30 years, Robert Nickelsberg specialised in documenting political and cultural change in developing countries. After covering Central and South America and the conflicts taking place there in the mid 1980s, he established his base in Asia. His work has also encompassed Kuwait, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia and Iraq – capturing the incalculable toll that conflict takes on nations and people.

A screaming soldier carrying another soldier across his shoulders as he charges forward. In the background, a man stands next to a truck. All the men wear combat clothes.
Robert Nickelsberg, Iraq, C-type print, 2003 | Courtesy of the Deepak Puri Collection
Snow

No outsider can fully grasp how the burdens of war are shouldered by individuals.
– Robert Nickelsberg

Robert Nickelsberg, Iraq, C-type print, 2003 | Courtesy of the Deepak Puri Collection

Warfare or Welfare

What are wars?
Wars are battles fought for long.
But why are they fought?
And what good have they brought?
No one knows, for it makes us cower
As the rest thirst for power

What are wars?
They bring suffering and pain;
The people are full of fears
But can do nothing but shed tears.
All around they see red,
While they mourn the dead.

A woman wearing a black chador (traditional Afghani full body cloak) puts her hand on a gravestone as she sits on an uneven, cracked surface. Around her, the ground is littered with headstones marking many graves.
James Nachtwey, Mourning a brother killed by a Taliban rocket, Afghanistan, Silver gelatin print, 1996 | Courtesy of the Deepak Puri Collection
A man wearing a cap and mask covering his face is seen from behind. His left hand looks aflame as he appears to be throwing an object on fire. In the foreground, on the left edge, is part of another person who also seems to be holding an object on fire that’s emitting thick grey smoke.
James Nachtwey, Palestinians Fighting the Israeli Army, West Bank, Pigment print, 2002 | Courtesy of the Deepak Puri Collection

What are wars?
We have guns and we have grenades.
Whether in the light or in the night
There is no time for respite.
We hear the occasional lore –
Yet we go on with the gore.

Now comes the question –
Do we need wars?
We get hurt and we lose,
We throw punches and we bruise.
Why do we leave our peace and joy,
In an endeavour to destroy?

Rear view of a person walking in between the ruins of bricked buildings with rubble all around. They are wearing a white chador (traditional Afghani full body cloak).
James Nachtwey, Ruins of Kabul from Civil War, Afghanistan, Silver gelatin print, 1996 | Courtesy of the Deepak Puri Collection
Three armed men in uniforms, carrying large bulky backpacks, are moving in a triangular formation. In the background distance, only a white haze and perhaps part of a fourth figure can be seen.
Christopher Morris, Afghanistan, Silver gelatin print, 2002 | Courtesy of the Deepak Puri Collection

What’s the point of this hateful deed?
We now know all it brings is injury.
We strive to exploit,
While we ignore the painful void.
Why do we have armies deployed?
When all we have to do is avoid?

Since 1981, James Nachtwey has dedicated his career to documenting wars and critical social issues, motivated by the belief that public awareness is an essential element in the process of change, and that photographs of war can intervene on behalf of peace. He has photographed conflicts worldwide, as well as social issues such as homelessness, drug addiction, poverty and industrial pollution.

Silhouette of a person sweeping railway tracks, with large fires burning on either side of them. The fires are bright orange and produce thick black smoke. There are large industrial-like structures in the background.
Sebastião Salgado, Pollution from a Coke factory, East Germany, Silver gelatin print, 1990 | Courtesy of the Deepak Puri Collection
Snow

I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated.
– James Nachtwey

What do we see, looking into the eyes of the artist as witness?

What are the stories we read into artworks?

What lies beyond what we see?

A poster split into two registers. On the left is a piece of land with an orange factory with smoke coming out of its chimneys. There is a banana peel, a crushed can and a plastic cover lying on the ground and a pipe from the factory that leads into the sea. The right side of the image is the sea with lots of objects including plastic bottles, cups, and a cover with the recycle symbol floating in it. There are dark grey clouds above the sea.
An animated image of a man holding a large red axe and chopping a tree stump as he says,”Pollution is never-ending, I wish there was a way to stop it.” Next to him is a swaying tree. This is followed by an animated image of a woman framed in a window as she waters a cactus on the sill. She says “Why does water not affect its growth?” Paralelly, a smiling boy wearing a hat and blue shorts is crouching outside the window. “Why are you not growing?” he asks, as he tends to a sapling beside a plastic bag.
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