Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/07/18

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Subject: [Leica] Political Correctness
From: Tina Manley <images@InfoAve.Net>
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000 07:18:15 -0400

Dear LUGnuts -

The Project Workshop in Santa Fe with Sam Abell was very good.  Sam is a 
wonderful teacher; however, I learned something that was both enlightening 
and disturbing.

My project is "Las Familias" - an exhibit (possibly book) of my photographs 
of Honduran families.  I learned that many galleries will not accept my 
project because it is politically incorrect - I am a photographer from the 
first world photographing people in the third world.  To make the project 
more acceptable it was suggested that I involve the families in the project 
by (a) giving them a camera and letting them photograph their own lives (b) 
getting them to write comments about the photographs.  (a) wouldn't work 
because the people I visit don't have time to take photographs - they spend 
all of their waking hours trying to feed their families (b) might work with 
a tape recorder but many of the people I photograph don't read or write - 
and several of the families in the project were killed by Hurricane Mitch - 
do I exclude those photographs?

What do you think about political correctness?  Gallery owners and 
publishers who reviewed our work seemed to think it is an important issue, 
but it honestly never occurred to me.

Leically,

Tina


Tina Manley, ASMP
http://www.tinamanley.com

Replies: Reply from Barney <barney@ncep.noaa.gov> (Re: [Leica] Political Correctness)
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Reply from "Michael Gardner" <mikeg@neca.com> (Re: [Leica] Political Correctness)
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Reply from Wilber Jeffcoat <jeffcoatphoto@sumter.net> (Re: [Leica] Political Correctness)