Ethnographic_Documentary_Photography

=Ethnographic Documentary Photography= (Sub-genre of Photography)

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"Choir" source: UPenn Library

**Timeline**

 * A Short Chronology of Ethnographic Photography**
 * 1851**: Still photographs documents East Indian culture
 * 1855**: The Face of Slavery
 * 1883**: World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago. Family groups from many cultures are imported. The great anthropologist Franz Boas helps to organize. Early anthropology emphasizes the visual display of objects and people.
 * 1900**: Native Indian photography
 * 1940s**: Farm Security Administration years
 * 1990s-**: Contemporary ethnography photography

**What is Ethnography?**
"Ethnography is the study of specific cultures. An ethnographic photographer uses photography to study the traditions, customs, daily life, ceremonies, and people of particular cultures," (CareArts). Ethnographic research provides a "scientific description of races and cultures," (Museum of New Zealand). Ethnographic documentary research has been called [|Visual Anthropology].

What is Ethnographic Photography?
The culture of society manifests itself in the form of visual symbolic signifiers, (Ruby). Gestures, rituals and ceremonies are constructed by social and cultural meaning. Is culture visible? Can culture be documented? Analyzed? Recorded? Through the study of ethnographic documentary photography, although subjective to the culture being photographed and the photographer's culture (because that will determine what the photographer is inspired to photograph and how it looks), one is able to observe the nature of other cultures, (Ruby).

__**What makes a photograph ethnographic?**__
"Any photography of people out in the World, whether it is documentary, photojournalism or street photography...but so too can family photography and formal portraiture be taken as ethnographic," (Sapir). Ethnographic photography involves a high degree of interpretation as the images are cultural artifacts and must be treated as such. The time and place when it was produced will determine the subjects (if any) in the photograph and the according cultural connotations help the viewer understand the meaning hidden within the image. This style of photography provides an explanatory function of culture.

In comparison to literature, the photographer takes the place of an author and the viewer of the photo becomes the "reader," (Sapir). "These studies attempt to provide insight into the conditions of production and consumption, so that the meaning of the images can be comprehended as something negotiated rather than fixed. For example, the photographs...can be understood as the products...examined for their value...in constructing...cultural identity," (Ruby; Lippard 1992).

__**Are anthropologists ethnographic photographers?**__
Stylistically and formally, photographs taken by anthropologists out "in the field" are "indistinguishable from the snapshots or artistically intended images taken by tourists," (Ruby). Photographs aid the human memory, acting as visual field notes, which help anthropologists conduct future interviews, (Ruby).

=**Ethnographic Photography as a Social and Cultural Artifact**=

The photograph is an image which becomes a document. Through photographs, humanity is able to observe factual, historical evidence of culture and behaviour. "During the past decade a social approach to the history of photography has emerged in which photographs are seen as socially constructed artifacts that tell us something about the culture depicted as well as the culture of the picture taker. Visual anthropologists have contributed to this movement with their analyses of historical photographic practice as cultural behavior," (Ruby 1988; Edwards 1992). These studies concentrate on the social context displayed in the image.

__Does Ethnographic = Evidence?__
Ethnographic photography serves a social purpose, to document history, capture the "decisive moment" in time and provides evidence as a social artifact. Photograpy is a reflection and a creation of culture and can be compared across time and cultures.

Coal Miner's Child Carrying Home Kerosene, to be used in Oil Lamps. Scott's Run, W.Va., 1939, photographer: Willcott.

The photo of the Coal Miner's Child emits a feeling of the sublime, and the unreal. The child is tiny in comparison to the size of the steps, porch, house and train. The connotated surreal qualities are comparable to that of the features in the 1809 painting, The Monk by the Sea by Caspar David Friedrich. Both feature a "vast and endless sky" juxtaposed by a small figure near the front and center of the image, (wga.hu). These images reflect a degree of lonliness and vulnerablility. They show that man is not larger than nature. Both illustrate subjects who are powerless within their circumstance. Friedrich, 1809

__Documenting History__
The benefit of ethnographic photography, as discussed earlier is the creation of social and cultural artifacts. Society records and documents history to help understand the events which took place. Hopefully some of those experiences will never happen again. Images of the slave trade are not easy to look at but deserve to be remembered.

"Slave Boy Brought to Waterbury from Bucks Hill by Aunt Ella Johnson's Second Husband (Whelan)" 1855, (Face of Slavery).

This "small but powerful portrait," is a rare and unique documentary image, (Face of Slavery). It shows a young boy who was traded as a slave during the 1800's.

"Stripes but No Stars," (Stripes but No Stars).

This powerful image was taken in North Carolina. It spurred the formation of labour unions protesting the forced work of convicts. Julie Browne, author of "The Labour of Doing Time," first published in Criminal Injustice: Confronting the Prison Crisis, writes:

"After the Civil War, the 13th Amendment officially abolished slavery for all people except those convicted of a crime. Legally allowing any such individual to be subjected to slavery and involuntary servitude opened the door for mass criminalization: a social mechanism designed to bar the liberty and equality that was the promise of emancipation from slavery. When African Americans were no longer legally held as slaves or property, there was a tremendous increase in the number of African-American convicts... When slavery was legally abolished, the Slave Codes were rewritten as the Black Codes, a series of laws criminalizing legal activity for African Americans. Through the enforcement of these laws, acts such as standing in one area of town or walking at night, for example, became the criminal acts of "loitering" or "breaking curfew" for which African Americans were imprisoned. In the late 19th-century South, an extensive prison system was developed in the interest of maintaining the power, race, and economic relationships of slavery," (Stripes but No Stars).

__Documenting A War__
This clip from youtube is one of many put together by people who wish to remember the war and those they have lost. This is a great example of ethnographic photography using technology to stay alive. Making videos of photographs provides a photo-essay and is an effective way of learning about photo's, as the audience is provided with historical background information and the context of each photo.

media type="youtube" key="J8COshbQAX4" width="425" height="350"

__Marion Post Willcott__

"When I took the FSA job, I already had battle scars. I had weathered…the first weeks as a female full-time staff photographer on the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin…The ten male photographers with whom I was to work, immediately put out their cigarette butts in my developer, spit in and hypoed it, probably peed in it; threw spit balls into my cubby-hole darkroom until my aim and speed became better than theirs. Finally, I exploded—telling them I was there to stay…I told them how and when I could be very useful to them, and that I needed their help in return; that they could teach me about a Speed Graphic and how to develop and print for a newspaper, that they could openly use their accustomed language and the four-letter words which I’d heard and used, and would welcome the opportunity to feel free to use them myself, again. That did it; we reached a truce…soon each one confidentially telling me that the others were wolves and he was going to be my protector," (Willcott) (//Women in Photography Conference//). Daughter of Cajun Family Returning from Fishing. Melrose, Louisiana, 1940.

"My principal concern is to challenge photographers to document, in mixed media if they wish, or even just record, in still photographs as well as film and video, our present quality of life, the causes of the present malaise in our society—and the worl d—the evidences of it. History, which will affect this and many generations, is being made, is right out there. A record of it might be useful in an old, new world, (Willcott)." Spoken by M. Willcott at the //Women in Photography Conference,// Syracuse University, October 1986.

Jitterbugging in a Jukejoint. Clarksdale, Mississippi, 1939 (Willcott)

=Culture Expositions=

1883: World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago. Family groups from many cultures are imported. The great anthropologist Franz Boas helps to organize. Early anthropology emphasizes the visual display of objects and people.

=**Notable Photographers**=

__Edward Curtis__
(1868-1952) Curtis, an American photographer, photographed Native Americans. Critics say his images are "romanticized," (Source:_). Captured an extensive record of native American life. http://www.sil.si.edu/Exhibitions/Curtis/ http://www.thirteen.org/americanmasters/curtis/index.html http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/067_curt.html http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award98/ienhtml/curthome.html



__August Sander__
(1876-1964) Took images of the German public in straight, photographic ways (see the photography page for informaton on straight photography)
 * published “ the face of our time” which consisted of portraits which were menat to capture face of all diff types of germans
 * had dream that he could establish social class and carrer from physical traits
 * this does not succeed because he could not catagorize all these people
 * ends up that social documentary proved the nazi agenda wrong and was banned by the state

//Varnisher, Cologne (Citizens of the 20th Century)//, ca 1930

__Sara Wiles__


//Adeline Armour and her Grandchildren, 1990//

//Northern Arapaho// //Wind River Reservation, Wyoming//

Sara Wiles did an ethnographic photo-essay of the Arapaho peoples of Wind River, Wyoming intending to document a rare slice of Arapaho social life. To this day, controversies over Native rights rage over "cultural and environmental disruption," (Ethnographic Portraits). Wiles realized there is a difference between life on the Wind River Reservation and how life on the reserve is perceived by "outsiders," (Ethnographic Portraits). "This is both reflected in and a result of the way media portray life on reservations. Common representations of Native Americans tend to fall into two categorical extremes: 1) the poor-victim image of hopelessness, poverty and alcoholism, and 2) the colorful beads and feathers images of ceremonials and powwows. Both images are valid in their historical and cultural contexts, but by themselves are superficial," (Ethnographic Portraits). Ethnographic photography grants society an "outsider's" view, an alternative to the mainstream media images which tell us what the world looks like.

//Tessa Bell and her daughter//, 2000, (Ethnographic Portraits). Sara Wiles explains why she has photographed the Arapho: "I hope to show my friends and neighbors in the way they see themselves: as complex and dignified human beings living in a functioning (if difficult) cultural, economic and political environment. Theirs is a society in which elders are respected for their knowledge of the Arapaho Way as well as for their slow passage to “the other side”. It is a society in which the old ways, the good ways, are still alive in the social and economic contexts of large extended families. It is a society in which, despite years of pressure from outside forces, communities are still held together by traditions that transcend individuals and families - traditions that help to preserve the integrity of a tribal society in a capitalistic world. It is a society in which it is still possible to live //ni’iihi’// - in a good way," (Ethnographic Portraits).

Tessa Bell and her daughter is a black and white photo of a mother and baby daughter. The viewer immediately forms a connection with the photo as the concept of family is an integral part of our daily lives. Bell and daughter are iconic of the universal mother-daughter relationship. Ethnographic photography reminds each society of our universal status as humans.

__Martha Cooper__
Muslim Day Parade

__Diane Arbus__
http://www.masters-of-photography.com/A/arbus/arbus_articles1.html

__Nan Goldin__
"Goldin sought to depict her subjects in a straightforward, non-judgmental way: she saw drag as a way to reinvent oneself, and reinforced this idea by taking photographs of her friends in full drag regalia, as well as in various stages of preparation," (brain-juice.com).

-The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (1981)

-The Cookie Portfolio (1976-1989) "In this series, snapshots of the couple's wedding are juxtaposed with images of their respective funerals, events that were separated by only a few years. These are candid photographs, and could have been taken only by someone with whom Cookie had a great deal of intimacy," (brain-juice.com).

=Elements of Design **in Ethnographic Photography**=

__Karen Nakamura__
"I'm a cultural anthropologist who focuses on disability and minority identity issues in contemporary Japan. I'm also an avid photographer and gear head," ([|http://www.photoethnography.com/blog/2005/01/photography-as-ethnography.html).]


 * //Malaysian Children at the Penang National Mosque// (Jan 2002)**

Karen Nakamura snapped this photo in the courtyard of the National Mosque in Penang, Malaysia. She recounts her experience, "as a non-Muslim, I was not allowed inside the mosque itself. The afternoon sun beat hard. Within the mosque grounds was a small day-care facility / religious school. Children started to emerge from the school and congregated around the drinking fountain. I started taking photos of one of the children and soon more children started congregating, hamming for the camera. Of all of the photos, this is my favorite. The expression of each of the children has a story in of itself. It reminds me of the //Last Supper//, not to mix religious genres too much. The girls are wearing the //mini-tudung// or headscarf. Although Malaysia has been an Islamic country for a very long time, women have not traditionally covered up. The pajama-like clothes are traditional costume. It has only been within the last decade that more and more women have adopted the //tudung// as an expression of religious belief. One should avoid reading this as a form of extremism, but rather as a development of new forms of piety," (Nakaruma). This photo illustrates the religious cultural values of the younger generations in Malaysia. Malaysian Children is a gorgeous photo in the ethnographic style as the vibrant colours pop out of the image. Colour, as a design element works to Nakamura's benefit. The children appear more lively and animated in these distinctive patterns. Nakamura is a self-proclaimed visual and cultural anthropologist.

__Jeffrey Jay Foxx__
//The Foxx Archive//, Foxx.

Foxx is "an ethnographic photographer of international repute, has journeyed around the world for educational publishers and development organizations such as the **United Nations** and the **InterAmerican Foundation**. He has traveled extensively throughout Mexico, Central America, and the American Southwest, on his own, and for such publications as //**LIFE**// and the //**National Geographic Society," (foxxarchive).**//

=Ethnographic Photography as a Photo Essay=

__Norman Chance and Paul Conklin__ http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/HistoryCulture/Cree/creeexhibit.html

=**Contemporary Ethnographic Photography**=

"In the 1990s, experiments with multimedia-hypertext technology opened up the promise of a future with computer-generated pictorial ethnographies-a new kind of text producing a different type of learning experience," (Ruby).

For example, http://www.exactitudes.nl/. = = = =

=**Works Cited**=

American Museum of Photography  (Nov 12, 2006). Ethnographic Portraits: The Crees of Northern Quebec.  (Nov 17, 2006). Nakaruma, Karen.  (Nov 17, 2006). Nakaruma, Karen.  (Dec 8, 2006) Marion Post Willcot of the FSA <[|http://www.people.virginia.edu/~ds8s/mpw/mpw-top.html]> (Nov 12, 2006). Museum of New Zealand.  (Dec 8, 2006). Ruby, Jay. <[|http://astro.temple.edu/~ruby/ruby/cultanthro.html]> (Nov 12, 2006). Sapir, David. <[|http://www.people.virginia.edu/~ds8s/ethno.html]> (Nov 12, 2006). YouTube clip.  (Dec 8, 2006). -<[|http://www.carearts.org/lessons/ethnograhic_photographer.html]> (Nov 12, 2006). - (Nov 17, 2006). - (Nov 17, 2006.) - (Nov 17, 2006). - (Nov 17, 2006).

=Image References=

Adeline Armour and her Grandchildren <[|http://www.people.virginia.edu/~ds8s/sara-w/sw10.html]> (Nov 12, 2006). Choir  (Nov 19, 2006). Face of Slavery, The  (Nov 12, 2006). Foxx Archive, The  (Nov 12, 2006). Martha Cooper's Muslim Day Parade  (Nov 12, 2006). Monk by the Sea  (Nov 12, 2006). Pastel Veils <[|http://www.photoethnography.com/blog/2005/01/photography-as-ethnography.html]> (Nov 12, 2006). Stripes but No Stars  (Nov 12, 2006). Tessa Bell and her Daughter <http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/HistoryCulture/Cree/creeexhibit.html> (Nov 17, 2006).

More Photographers
- Photographer: http://www.victoriaginn.co.nz/ (Nov 12, 2006).

-http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/TePapa/English/CollectionsAndResearch/Collections/Photography/?filter=none (Nov 12, 2006). - http://www.jpsviewfinder.com/jps/portfolio/jpsportfolioefr.htm -Dorothea Lange http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/wcf/wcf0013.html