DOCUMENTARY AND REALIST PHOTOGRAPHY

DOCUMENTARY AND REALIST PHOTOGRAPHY

 

 

 

Society has always been in the turmoil of sickness, injury, disability, death, old age, unemployment and poverty. These problems have led men to unite with a common to goal – to manage these circumstances in the sense of protecting people or their country from experiencing these problems, or providing support to those who are experiencing it. Hence, social management has been the tool that social workers use to maintain the welfare of a certain community: physically, emotionally, financially and even spiritually. Such management involves risks for it deals with the development of a certain society, which concerns a vast number of individuals. Risk management is an example of social management. According to Al-Arhabi (2002), “the application of risk management framework goes well beyond social protection since many public interventions such as sound macroeconomic policy, good governance and access to basic education and health care all help to reduce and mitigate risk and hence vulnerability.” Al-Arhabi basically interprets social management, or social risk management as something that is much better than social protection. He further explains that lacking or inappropriate social risk management instruments will negatively impact economic development and growth that can perpetuate poverty, or increase the level of poverty.

 

There have been many forms of instruments that social workers, government officials, and other concerned citizens have used to instigate social management and express their sympathy to the society. One of which, is the art of photography. Photography is a way of seeing of what is happening around one’s environment of society for it captures one decisive moment in time. The Farm Security Administration (FSA) of America has used this form of art to conquer poverty in a subtle way, simply by taking pictures of certain moments that would have an emotional appeal to those who would take notice. Such action could be considered as a covert form of social management.

 

The FSA was organized in the 1920’s because to fight the “social and economic dislocations caused by the distressing agricultural climate.” (Gorman, 2001).  The organization has provided a body of documentary photography commonly known as the FSA photographs.  Although it was not the primary work of FSA, it is, however, arguably the most recognized legacy of the agency. Walker Evans, one of FSA’s photographers, once commented on the principle in photography that his colleague Agee used. He said that Agee wanted to “shock and scare people. He wanted to make people who were not poor. . . really feel what it was like to be up against it.” (Curtis, 1989) Agee was Evan’s main influence in photography. Like Agee, Evans faced different problems in expressing his social concern. He struggled to capture realism in photography, and fortunately was able to achieve it. Curtis (1989) states that “… He produced precisely the effects he intended. In so doing, he helped perpetuate popular misconceptions that cameras do not lie and that photographs are true because they are mechanical reproductions of reality. Documentary photography derived its power and authority from artful manipulations of these fictions. “

 

As one of the photographers that FSA hired, Evans’ task was or public relations; he was supposed to provide visual evidence that there was need, and that the FSA programs were meeting that need. This was the fact that Gorman (2001) has described. “Beyond serving this institutional image, the photographers were to document aspects of ‘the American way of life’ that caught their eye.” Basically, the indignity of migrant living conditions was the reality that FSA photographers had captured. Their social work is one of the most widely used sets of images in the public domain. It continues to be used in documentaries and social commentaries about America’s rural past (Trachtenberg, 1989).  

 

According to Huff (1998), a unique element of the social work profession has been its ability to blend skill technique, and theory with art. The word “art” refers to the emotional component of social work practice that is essential for success. Huff continued that “feelings are just as essential to the understanding of social problems as they are to understanding individual instances of domestic violence or homelessness.” As an admirer of the art of the FSA, and at the same time agreeing with the group’s objective, he also states that “… Adding visual elements to our communications will help professional social workers move beyond communicating with other experts and social workers and reach the wider audience that the social work advocacy mission demands.” This comment simply implies that FSA’s work, as a symbolical medium of communication, can trigger emotions as it convinces others to understand the problems of the society and how to act upon it.

FSA’s documentary photography can also be considered as a mean of social management to create a national identity for America. National identity is a factor of social concern because it can be the basis of a society’s strength. Brady (1999) states that:

 

“Historians that herald the decade of the 1930s as the one in which America forged its national culture have added much to an understanding of 20th century America. It is the goal of this project, however, to demonstrate that even in Stryker’s work–a project charged with creating a national identity–regional identity could never be fully subverted. America, even today, is a constant negotiation of more local and national ways, and the American ever defies conventional definition; the FSA project, for its critical timing and its great breadth, provides an excellent set of lenses through which to view these phenomena.” (Brady, 1999, p.1)

 

            National identity creates confidence to the members of the society and any actions done to achieve this can be considered as a form of social management, perhaps in a covert way, because it unintentionally gave America a national heritage that they can be proud of, and at the same time illustrates the face of America in that time, which can serve as a reminder of economic difficulties. Brady (1999) cites that documentary photographers were not just “chasing the truth,” rather they “… were after a particular reaction from the people observing the photograph. Being that documentary photography’s primary appeal is to the emotions, it oddly enough proved a particularly manipulative vehicle…” Such manipulative vehicle can be a free ride to unity and social stability. It has been. Brady (1999)continues:

 

“Charged with showing the extent of the depression’s economic disaster and the effectiveness of FSA programs to alleviate it, Stryker (one of FSA’s most profound photographers) possessed a very specific motive, and by the end of his run he had more than a quarter million photographs in which to express it. Through film, radio, and magazines, the 1930s represented in many ways the advent of American mass culture, and the FSA photographs–circulated in exhibits, newspapers, and picture magazines–became a primary crucible in which the American identity would be shaped.” (Brady, 1999, p.1)

 

            To sum it all up, the documentary photography of the FSA can be considered as a covert form of social management simply because it managed to shape the identity of America. By reflecting the poverty that America has faced in the 1920’s and 1930’s, it has created an appeal that have captured the hearts of Americans, as it captured the American way of life. As compared to other social management motives, the purpose of the FSA photography is unique in its own way because it did not only stand as a tool for social awakening in many circumstances to Americans. It also stood as the “divine hand” that has shaped the identity of America to what it is now.

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