N I H I L S E N T I M E N T A L G I A,
a blog about photography by Sofia Silva
Everyday, I wake up, hear the news, see some photographic registers of the previous events in Ukraine, get nauseated, shed a few tears and then re-fuel the level of frustration. It’s masochism, but I can’t avoid it. My irritation regarding what photography has been doing in relation to this particular war has been escalating to…
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I won’t pretend to understand the full history of what’s happening in Syria. Even attempting to understand the historical, political, sociological and geographical conditions that led Syrians to their current situation, I would still fail to grasp the brutality of what’s been happening there since the uprising back in 2011. A genocide is happening…
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Campaign posters for the British Army (by agency Karmarama), targeting youth and using the same psychological strategies used in propaganda recruitment from extremists groups, making youngsters believe they need a higher purpose in life and offering the solution: to join the army. Image showing the installation of a photograph in the context of an exhibition.…
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photo caption (above): Chine, Shenzhen, 2017, Scene #1350 © Alex Majoli / Magnum Photos Les employés d’un institut de beauté participent à une réunion de motivation avant de commencer leur travail. When is enough, enough? Vice is obviously no reference when it comes to dignifying the use of photographs in the media, but still I…
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caption: © Brent Stirton, A young Aids affected child in the home of his HIV+ drug addicted mother in their poverty stricken village on the first day of school, Donetsk, Ukraine, 1 September 2011. I know, I know… what can I possibly have to say about this that I haven’t before? Not much. Ethics in…
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Yesterday, a friend told me that to avoid a cynic approach to life, you just had to choose to live it. I couldn’t agree more. On the other hand, every year, when the world press photo nominees start to invade the visual arena, I get a little consumed with anger and frustration. It’s a waste…
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Eduardo Martins is no Wolfgang Beltracchi, but the truth is he managed to turn himself into a heroish-like-photojournalist. Regarding the substance of what was being created, there’s no similarities between Beltracchi and Martins, as the first was and is an extremely gifted technician and Martins just sounds like a sociopath, verging on the psychopath. No…
Read MoreI came into this video when it was already 30 minutes in. I recognized the photographer but didn’t know about the series and for a couple of minutes I thought he was joking and this was some kind of absurd take on ethical photojournalism. After five minutes I realized it was for real. I went…
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For me, it all started last Monday, when I came across a post, by BENJAMIN CHESTERTON, entitled LENSCULTURE AND THE COMMODIFICATION OF RAPE, in which the author addressed a photo-contest created by Magnum Photos and LensCulture. The core of the problem was, as the title put forward, the photograph chosen to promote that competition. After shit hit…
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Sometimes we have to criticize with no solution in sight. Sometimes we have to promote change because the contrary just doesn’t fit our ethical frame. It’s not an easy thing to do when, in a social context, an artist’s work is expected to promote change, have “real” impact. In Renzo Martens‘ documentary Episode III. Enjoy Poverty (2008)…
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Most of us will agree on one thing: this year’s WWP winning photograph is not their typical choice. But that’s it! The consequences of this choice are as multilayered as the photograph itself. One of the first persons to speak openly about why this photograph “should not have won such a prize” was the chairman of the…
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These are clearly not the most extraordinary photographs from the competition, yet in my opinion they stand out because instead of portraying the worst about humanity (our profound hatred of the Other, our fear of change, our disrespect for nature, the war, the war, the war, the killing, the killing, the killing), they show our…
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Warning: most of the links have extremely violent imagery. I gave myself a task: to look at photographs of violent events for a period of more or less a month and to chose a photograph per day (which wasn’t manageable after all). I realized from this experience that I haven’t really been looking at photographs…
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Note: I chose to give the warning I missed to find when I came across the image that I’ll be referring to later on this post: a poor resolution image of the inside of the Bataclan after the tragedy that came to be known as the Paris attacks. The tragedy took place on a Friday…
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Susan Sontag died in 2004 and that was a tough year for photography. One difficult to forget. In 2004, the images of Abu Ghraib got out and with them started a revolution in photojournalism. From then on, authenticity, a ‘quality’ so dear to documentary photography, changed hands. Legitimacy and believability were no longer available to…
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Yesterday, after watching the documentary about the work of Sebastião Salgado I found myself trying to give an answer to the question then asked: does it matter if we cry? I think it does, the same way I think that actions need to be taken even when consequences are unknown, the same way I think…
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© Sebastião Salgado, part of Mondrel Media press kit. © Sebastião Salgado, part of Mondrel Media press kit. The Salt of the Earth (‘Le sel de la terre’/’O sal da terra’) is a documentary by WIM WENDERS and JULIANO RIBEIRO SALGADO about the brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. Sebastião’s work for the past 40 years or…
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© Giovanni Troilo, J. keeps his gun hidden in a box in the woods of Bois du Cazier. This is more secure than keeping them at home since he regularly gets visits from the police., from the series The Dark Heart of Europe, 2014. © Giovanni Troilo, Gas supply tubes run along the houses built…
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When the New York Times reviewed Jimmy Nelson’s work “Before they pass away” the writer Andrew Katz called his body of work “Portraits of the Authentics“. The concept of authenticity, in the art world, is nothing but a word. It serves the rhetoric of what’s original, genuine, singular, unique, and so on. We got used…
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The Documentary Which Way Is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington, directed by Sebastian Junger, full str**ming here
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N I H I L S E N T I M E N T A L G I A, 