Issue 223, September 2024
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There’s an international refugee crisis going on right now, with millions displaced from their homes and widespread political upheaval. To encourage more understanding, two humanitarian photographers are working on a global project to try to give those on the move a human face.
SWITCH ON THE news or read the papers and you can’t help but be regularly confronted by images of war and conflict on a grand scale, and the fall out can be seen in the form of countless millions of people on the move, having been forced to flee their homes and to become refugees looking for a safe place to shelter from the violence erupting around them.
It’s all too easy to become immune to the everyday scenes of people crowded into temporary camps while their futures are decided, while political unrest is being stirred in countries across the world by those looking to make capital from the fears some have about the large number of refugees who could be coming their way seeking sanctuary. In short, it’s a growing humanitarian disaster, with real people trapped in the middle of it all, with their entire lives in a state of upheaval.
For documentary photographers Daniel Farber Huang and Theresa Menders this was an issue that they felt they needed to confront, and to bring some clarity to. One of the big issues, as they saw it, was the fact that the sheer numbers of refugees was clouding many onlookers to the fact that those they were looking at were all individuals with stories to tell, whose lives had been monumentally disrupted through no fault of their own. Give these people a human face, the reasoning went, and the possibility was that a greater level of understanding could be achieved to help ease some of the tension being created.
Getting involved
Both Daniel and Theresa’s direction of travel as documentary photographers was decided on one fateful day back in 2001. “We were living in New York City when the 9/11 attacks occurred,” Daniel recalls. “From the moment we first stepped out of our apartment that very afternoon, we began photographing the new, unprecedented world around us.
“We didn’t have any particular goal with wanting to photograph and document New York’s and the country’s immediate and longer-term reaction and ultimate recovery, but we did know it was history unfolding and it was important. Eventually, after we had amassed a meaningful body of work, we had some conversations with a number of museum curators, who ultimately asked to include our work in their permanent collections.
“We had been focused on women’s and children’s issues for years prior to the emergence of the global refugee crisis beginning in 2015. When we realised millions of people were now being forced from their homes due to conflict and persecution, we were naturally drawn into wanting and needing to understand the situation first hand, particularly as thousands upon thousands of unaccompanied minors were having to flee for safety.”
The couple needed to have a strategy for putting across their message, and they hit on the idea of focusing on the faces of individual refugees, to make a point about how like the rest of us they were, with their personal lives, family units and bags of possessions they had managed to gather together. By breaking down the eye-watering numbers into something that those viewing the images could relate to, they reasoned could take away some of the fear and put across the message that this was indeed something that could happen to anyone, whatever their background. These were ordinary people, and they hadn’t chosen to be in the position they were in.
Staggering numbers
While it can indeed be easy to be turned off by news about events around the world that don’t appear to have a direct bearing on our daily lives, the scale of the international refugee crises that’s unfolding perhaps needs to be spelt out to emphasise why this is something that, like it or not, is going to affect all of us in some way or other.
“Between 2015 and 2023, over 117 million people globally have been forced to flee their homes due to conflict or persecution,” says Theresa. “At that massive rate of violence and destruction, that equates to one person becoming a refugee every two seconds. Think about it: that’s every two seconds for the last nine years and counting…
“Hearing statistics like this is staggering to us. We have a hard time picturing what numbers that massive even mean. And if we can’t picture this crisis, how can we work towards solving it? For us, we start one face at a time. There can be a tendency for some of the public to confuse a person who happens to be living in a bad, dirty or dangerous situation as being a bad, dirty or dangerous person, and clearly that is not the case. We show people with their inherent courage, beauty, dignity and grace.”
The Power of Faces
In Daniel and Theresa’s global photo project ‘The Power of Faces,’ the pair intentionally crop out the context of the refugee camps because they are looking to focus on the individuals, not merely their label as a ‘refugee.’ For a fuller perspective,however,they also wanted to depict theoften-inhumanelivingconditionsthatdisplaced people are forced to endure every day, with the hope that this will encourage progress, provide relief and mobilise resources to spur immediate action, as well as also developing long-term solutions to address this humanitarian crisis.
“We’re seeking to raise awareness of injustice and inequality around the world through our photography, our words and our actions,” says Daniel. “We started The Power of Faces portrait project because we realised most refugees have lost all their material possessions, including their treasured family photographs. Rather than just taking from refugees as journalists and advocates – taking their photos, taking their stories – we wanted also to give something back if possible.
“Having a physical photo of family or friends to hold in one’s hands can be a great comfort in times of need, so we bring portable photo printers and instant cameras into refugee camps and give people proper portraits for them to keep. In many cases these will be the only physical photos they own since fleeing their homes.”
“We’ve distributed thousands of portraits to people detained in refugee camps,” say Theresa. “Having a photo taken by a third party is, in certain ways, validating. It shows that someone else recognises the subject as a person, as an individual. We’ve found it is incredibly powerful to give parents a photo of their children smiling. This could be the only photo of them together as a family unit, whatever that unit may be.”
The project is taking everything that a photograph can deliver, and is using it as a means to change hearts and minds. “For those people who give us permission to share their portraits, we use those images to raise awareness.Webelieve that ifapersoncan lookinto astranger’seyes, then perhaps they will fear that stranger less.”
Making it happen
While the concept of the project might sound devastatingly simple, the logistics of putting together a project of this nature are anything but. Red tape is a universal issue, while there are also some that, for whatever political reason, might not want to encourage such images to be shared.
“We don’t think of our work as having a political edge,” says Theresa, “but rather a human focus.We hope to rise above the noise of politics and add constructively to conversations about human rights, equity and mutual respect.”
“As independent humanitarian advocates, we have the freedom to direct our time and resources to areas of the world we feel are most pressing,” Daniel adds. “However, without the backing of a major media organisation, charitable organisation or non-governmental agency, it does require us to be highly resourceful, organised and even bold in our efforts to gain access into what are often restricted locations.
“Fortunately, we tend to be extremely good with logistical planning – and, admittedly, we enjoy the challenge – and we’ve developed experience navigating complex and often shifting landscapes. We are not hesitant to contact foreign authorities or offices to request guidance or access, and are generally able to gain cooperation. To enter the camps and be allowed freedom of movement, we have had to gain approval from stakeholders, ranging from foreign governments, military authorities, local city halls, police, camp managers and even tribal leaders.”
Getting the message out
Daniel and Theresa are both keenly aware that sharing their story has never been more pressing. The couple’s book, The Power of Faces, was published earlier this year during World Refugee Week, while an exhibition of the work, co-sponsored by Brown University’s Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies (CHRHS), is due to open on September 19, followed in October by a symposium to discuss its theme.
When selecting the exhibition, the Art at Watson committee recognised it would be politically timely, opening less than two months before Americans choose their next president in an election where immigration and asylum have become hot-button issues.
Exhibition co-coordinator Pete Bilderback called the exhibition “an essential antidote to the toxic rhetoric surrounding the plight of displaced people in U.S. politics. It is a potent reminder that refugees are, in fact, human and that no politician or degrading system can rob them of their humanity, regardless of the horrifying conditions to which they are subjected.”
For Daniel and Theresa this is a project they felt duty bound to share. “Every person in these portraits has their own story to tell. Every person has suffered their own immeasurable pain and loss. We know we cannot encapsulate any person’s plight in a single photograph. What we can do, however, is to try to add constructively to the broader conversation about refugees, and encourage the public to engage in informed discussion on how to address this crisis.
“Our intention is to bring this portrait project to other refugee camps around the world and continue giving proper portraits to displaced individuals. Our goal is to put a human face to the crisis, and remind the world that refugees are not mere numbers or statistics, but individuals each with their own hopes and dreams for a better life in a kinder world. These individuals matter.”
And does the couple believe that their imagery will ultimately help to make a difference? “We’re not so naïve to think our world will be completely free from conflict,” they say, “but we seek to shine a light on the innocent and oppressed so they are not ignored, forgotten or erased.” It’s a bold and admirable aim, and one that’s brilliantly utilising photography’s unique ability to put a powerful message across to the widest possible audience to its full extent.
More information: www.thepoweroffaces.com
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