Le sport, un état d'ame

PORTFOLIO (Oral synthesis) :

Photography is a known art form that can help convey strong messages to combat stereotypes and help people who suffer from injustice like the black community.

I will see that through four documents :

• the press article “Documenting the casual horrors of apartheid” written by Alexandra SPRING in October 2018 from The Guardian  ;
• the photography named “Nanny and child” taken by Peter Magubane in 1956 ;
• a photography taken by Alexander Joe of Nelson Mandela at an African National Congress meeting in Soweto the 20 of September 1990;
• a survey questioning the reception of migrants on French territory carried out after the emotion caused by the photo of Aylan Kurdi, a migrant found dead on a beach; made by ELABE in 2015.

So, how can photography help to stop the injustice suffered by different communities?

If there is one power the photographer has, it is the power to evoke emotion in the audience he or she touches. Whether it is fear, humiliation or empathy, photography is a means of communication, a form of artistic expression that appeals to sensitivity in geopolitical contexts governed by strategy and guided by rationality. Since its invention in the 19th century, it has been used, but also instrumentalised, to serve its cause and denounce injustice.

     Indeed, the press article “Documenting the casual horrors of apartheid” written by Alexandra SPRING in October 2018 from The Guardian talk about how David Goldblat captured the casual horrors of apartheid as it attracts the viewers’ attention

The journalist said she feels uncomfortable looking at the image taken by David Goldblatt that she says is the embodiment of South African society during apartheid. She remembers going to the same supermarket in South Africa and explains how people took such

scenes for granted. She explains how this scene seems false in relation to the violence and atrocities suffered by blacks because of apartheid.

We can see at lines lines 38-39 : “How could such ordinariness take place while countless horrors were happening off camera ?

 The journalist wants to highlight the stark contrast between people's living conditions and experiences based on the color of their skin. The rhetorical device allows him to highlight the discrimination people faced during apartheid.

    Indeed, the photography “Nanny and child” taken by Peter Magubane in 1956 shows the damage that apartheid has done, it shows a black nanny taking care of a white girl but she is not allowed to sit in the same bench, there is one reserved only for Europeans (whites).

Magubane used his lens to direct our gaze and denounce an absurd situation. Even though the nanny was caring, she was not allowed to sit next to the little girl whose gaze attracts our attention. Peter Magubane wanted to show how people’s daily routines and the simplest gestures were impacted by apartheid.

He draws a parallel between his camera and a weapon, which was, according to him, a necessary tool to call for change and enable the world to see what the situation was like in South Africa. And he was ready to die for freedom.

    Indeed, we can see in this photography taken by Alexander Joe at an African National Congress meeting in Soweto the 20 of September 1990, a strong message declared by a great man, Nelson Mandela, who fought against racial injustice, and he said in this day "I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all people live together in harmony and with equal opportunity. It is an ideal I hope to live for and hope to achieve."

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