SIMONHISTORY2020MARCUSSWALE
CONTAINS CONTENT THAT MAY DISTURB SOME VIEWERS
It is not to say that these events and circumstances are not reported, or even under reported. Simply, that by some unknown reckoning, the lives and deaths of many of the world’s population are deemed seemingly less resonant than others. By resonant, I mean here visible. I do not think it is true that people do not care for the lives of others, but I do think it is hard to empathise with those whose circumstances are so removed from our own experience. Do images build empathy? Are they a fair account of the atrocities of which man is capable? Susan Sontag, who wrote extensively on the culture of images, herself seemed conflicted. In Regarding the Pain of Others Sontag contemplates documentary photography and images suffering. What is their worth, she seems to ask.
Photographs may inspire both sympathy and understanding, yet conversely, may also present suffering as too distant, vast and irrevocable, whereby “compassion can only flounder.”1 Photographs manipulate, they objectify. Photographers may be accused of exploitation in documenting human tragedy, of deploying shock tactics.
INTRO
One does not need to diminish the importance of such events and the effects that they have had on the lives of millions of global citizens. However, while we in the ‘West’ focus on those issues which most forcefully present themselves upon our own doorstep, of no less magnitude are the conflicts and struggles of those millions of people who less frequently grace the front pages of our newspapers, or the headlines of our hourly news bulletins. In my experience, images of the conflicts presented here are frequently relegated to the ‘International’ section of my local newspaper; a large photograph, sometimes only poorly captioned for context. An isolated event excused of its historical narrative.
2 1 Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others. (London: Penguin Books, 2011). 69. 2 ibid, 100.
In 2020, news headlines were dominated by two events; the global Covid-19 pandemic and the United States presidential election. In 2022 Covid-19 has slipped somewhat from the headlines in favour of the war in Ukraine.
And Sontag questions whether when flooded by such images in contemporary life, do we in fact become desensitised, numb, our compassion stretched to its limits? Ultimately however, Sontag affirms the vital function of images; even as tokens, images say “This is what human beings are capable of doing.”
ETHIOPIA
Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed. On 4 November 2020 Ahmed ordered a military campaign against Tigray region’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Abiy accused the TPLF of attacking federal military camps in Tigray region and seeking to destabilise the country, which the TPLF denies.
Photograph: Samuel Gebru/AFP/Getty Images
Image made from undated video released by the state-owned Ethiopian News Agency shows Ethiopian military near the border of Tigray and Amhara. Abiy and his government denies the presence of thousands of collaborating soldiers from neighbouring Eritrea. However, in February 2021, Amnesty International said hundreds of unarmed civilians had been massacred in less than 48 hours by Eritrean troops.
Photograph: AP
Orthodox Christian refugees who fled the conflict in Tigray pray at a camp in Hamdeyat near the Sudan-Ethiopia border. Investigators from Amnesty International spoke to survivors and witnesses who described extrajudicial executions, indiscriminate shelling and widespread looting by Ethiopian and Eritrean troops in mid-November. One witness told the Associated Press of soldiers bursting into a church in Axum, cornering and dragging out worshippers and shooting at those who fled.Photograph: Nariman El-Mofty/AP
Refugees who fled the conflict in Tigray on a bus heading towards a temporary camp in Hamdayetin Sudan. By mid 2021, Ethiopian forces had been accused of systematic rape in Tigray. Accounts of mutilation, slavery and torture of women and girls has been published by Amnesty international, in what organisation says could amount to war crimes. Photograph Nariman El-Mofty/AP.
An Ethiopian refugee from the Tigray conflict attends mass at a refugee camp in eastern Sudan. ‘We have 40 to 65 people sleeping in one room,’ says a nun working with people displaced by the war.
Photograph: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images
Ethiopian refugees in Sudan after fleeing fighting in Tigray.
Photograph: Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters
Photograph: Ed Ram
Refugees queue for food distribution at the Um Raquba settlement. In March 2022, the Director Gen eral of the World Health Organisation stated that nowhere in the world were people more at risk than Tigray.
BELARUS
Reuters
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, claimed a sixth term as president in a widely disputed election. Europe’s longest-serving ruler, has faced weeks of mass protests against his rule and is facing unprecedented opposition to his power. /
BBC
Protesters in Minsk, holding up an image of President Lukashenko. Lukashenko once warned that anyone joining an opposition protest would be treated as a “terrorist”, adding: “We will wring their necks, as one might a duck”.Photograph: Maksim Shved/Guardian
Photograph: Andrei Kutsila
An injured protester in Minsk. The country’s powerful secret police - still called the KGB - closely monitors dissidents.
Valery
Photograph: Sharifulin/Tass
An opposition rally in Minsk, Belarus, against the 26-year-regime of Alexander Lukashenko.
Police fought running battles with protesters in Minsk for weeks. Getty images / BBC.
Roman Protasevich, an opposition journalist based in Lithuania, who along with his girlfriend, was abducted from Ryanair flight FR4978, which was crossing Belarusian airspace while flying from Athens to Vilnius.
Photograph: Sergei Grits/AP
A crowd rallies in support of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the political novice who is now Mr Lukashenko’s main political rival. She stepped in to challenge him for the presidency after her husband Sergei Tikhanovsky, a popular blogger, was barred from running and sent to jail. Ms Tikhanovskaya is now in exile. Reuters / BBC.
HONG KONG
Protests initially focused on a bill that would have made it possible to extradite people from Hong Kong to China, where the Communist party controls the courts. Many Hongkongers feared the law would be used by authorities to target political enemies and that it would signify the end of the “one country, two systems” policy, eroding the civil rights enjoyed by Hong Kong residents. Protesters occupied Hong Kong international airport, sparking its closure. Photograph: Laurel Chor/EPA.
Thousands of protesters gather as the roads become blocked by a reported 1.7 million people. China has accused foreign powers, particularly the US, of fomenting the demonstrations in Hong Kong.
State media has gone from near silence on the protests and blanket censorship of footage of the demonstrations, to describing protests as “riots”. Beijing has described protestors as ‘“radicals”, “thugs” and “terrorists” Photograph: Rick Findler.
‘We know this is going to be a long battle. Beijing is determined to rule Hong Kong with a heavy hand.’ Police confront pro-democracy campaigners in Hong Kong. Photograph: Anthony Kwan/Getty Images.
Hong Kong police launched a wave of arrests against prominent democracy activists and protesters, marking a new phase in government efforts to stop mass protests that plunged the city into months of political crisis.
Patrick Lam, Stand News acting chief editor, is arrested after police searched his office in Hong Kong. An intensified move against independent news outlets began shortly after Beijing imposed a controversial national security law in the summer of 2020. since then. Many journalists and editirs have been charged and jailed for “conspiracy to print, publish, sell, offer for sale, distribute, display and/or reproduce seditious publications”. Photograph: Tyrone Siu/Reuters.
Pro-democracy activist Tony Chung was reportedly taken away by two men while when attempting to seek asylum at the US consulate in Hong Kong. Two other members of Chung’s now-disbanded activism group, Yanni Ho and William Chan, were also arrested
Photograph: Isaac Lawrence/AFP/Getty Images
Riot police threaten protesters with pepper spray during clashes in Sham Shui Po. Photograph: Billy HC Kwok/Getty Images
MYANMAR
A protest against Myanmar dictator Min Aung Hlaing in Yangon in February. He has cracked down on dissent and ordered the arrest of dozens of journalists. Journalism has been outlawed in all but name since the coup. Photograph: AFP/Getty Imagess
Protesters burn Myanmar flags during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on 29 July. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Residents say 200 homes in Kin Ma burned to ground after opponents of junta fought with regime’s forces Images
A woman walking past the remains of houses after they were burnt in Kin Ma village in Myanmar.
Photograph: PAUK TOWNSHIP NEWS/AFP/Getty
Spent bullet shells on the ground at the site of deadly clashes between anti-coup protestors and security forces this week in Yangon, Myanmar.
Photograph: Hkun Lat/Getty Images
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Protesters clash with police in Myanmar after the coup. According to one advocacy group, Myanmar’s security forces killed more than 1,000 civilians in the six months since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi from power.
Protesters take cover behind homemade shields as they confront the police in Yangon. Part of Myanmar’s biggest city was turned into a battle zone, with burning barricades and security forces firing at unarmed anti-coup protesters. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images.
Funeral held for 13-year-old boy shot by military in Myanmar – video. the brutal crackdown included soldiers randomly shooting passersby in the street. and people being burnt alive.
BLACKMATTERLIVES
The Black Lives Matter and related protests took on increased momentum following the brutal killing of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin. Following Chauvin’s arrest Foyd’s family released a statement; “The pain that the black community feels over this murder and what it reflects about the treatment of black people in America is raw and spilling out on to streets across [the country].”
Photograph: Facebook/Darnella Frazier/AFP/Getty Images
Photograph: David Hartley/Rex/Shutterstock
Black Lives Matter protests brought renewed attention to statues associated with colonisation in cities across the world. Here protesters demand the removal of the Cecil Rhodes statue from the front of Oriel College, Oxford. Rhodes was an imperialist, businessman and politician who played a dominant role in southern Africa in the late 19th Century, driving the annexation of vast swathes of land.
A protester stands over a toppled statue of Theodore Rosevelt during a protest in Portland, Oregon. Protesters pulled down statues of former presidents Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln in protest over the Columbus Day federal holiday. Christopher Columbus is a polarizing figure who Native American advocates say spurred centuries of genocide against indigenous populations. Photograph: Nathan Howard/Getty Images.
A monument to Robert E Lee in Virginia. It was among many Confederate statues marked with graffiti including messages to “stop white supremacy”. Lee was a commander of the pro-slavery Confederate States Army, in the US Civil War of 1861 to 1865. Documents show that he encouraged severe beatings of slabes who tried to escape. He is also said to have broken up slave families. Photograph BBC.
A toppled Confederate statue lies on the ground outside a courthouse in Durham, N.C. The Durham protest was in response to a white nationalist rally held in Charlottesville, that weekend. (Virginia Bridges/The Herald-Sun via AP.
A statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston lies on the ground after being removed from Bristol harbour where it was dumped by protesters. Photograph: Bristol City Council/Reuters
A triumphant call for action … Jen Reid standing on the Colston plinth in Bristol, just after the statue was toppled. In collaboration with Reid, artist Marc Quinn created and installed a black resin and steel statue in her likeness upon the vacant plinth. Bristol City Council removed the statue within twentyfour hours.Photograph: @bricks_magazine/Instagram
YEMEN
Wounded anti-government protesters lie on the ground as they receive medical help at a field hospital during clashes with security forces in Sanaa, Yemen. Racked by war, cholera and now coronavirus, the country faces the world’s worst famine in decades. Photograph: Muhammed Muheisen/AP
Sadia Ibrahim Mahmud, then 11, in a bed at the malnutrition ward of the al-Sabeen hospital in Sana’a. She has since died. 16 million Yemenis face hunger and aid agencies have warned that 400,000 children under five are at risk of dying from malnutrition.
Photograph: Achilleas Zavallis
Yemeni soldiers ride in the back of a patrol truck during the burial of a general killed in fighting with Houthi rebels in Marib. Ballistic missiles, drones and other projectiles hammer the town and its outskirts, while the Saudi-led coalition supporting the Yemeni government stepped up bombing of Houthi positions across the country. Photograph: Ali Owidha/Reuters
The UN had verified the deaths of at least 7,700 civilians by March 2020, with most caused by Saudiled coalition air strikes. However, the US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) said in October 2019 that it had recorded more than 100,000 fatalities, including 12,000 civilians killed in direct attacks. A Saudi-led multinational coalition intervened in the conflict in Yemen in March 2015.
Photo AFP / BBC
Then U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.The Saudi coalition is supplied with arms by both the U.S. and the U.K. A US government watchdog investigation into the “emergency” sale of more than $8bn in weapons to Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies has found the state department failed to “fully assess” or mitigate the risk of civilian casualties in Yemen. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Then U.K. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the BBC that the UK’s relationship with Saudi Arabia stops bombs going off on the streets of Britain. In 2019 the court of appeal ruled in a judicial review that UK arms sales to Saudi were unlawful because no internal assessment of the lawfulness of the Saudi campaign had been made by the UK government.
Photograph: Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images.
Following the temporary ban, U.K. arms sales to Saudi Arabia resumed. Here, the aftermath of air strikes carried out by the Saudi-led coalition in Sana’a, Yemen. The UK defense ministry disclosed in May it had logged more than 500 Saudi air raids in possible breach of international law in Yemen.
THE VIEWMASTER
Subjects were traditionally focused on tourist attractions, but over time and various changes in ownership, Viewmaster ‘reels’ increasingly focused on content from the entertainment industry (film and television) and increasingly, child-friendly subjects such as toys and cartoons. Here, the Viewmaster is utilised to bring unpalatable conditions of human suffering direct to the viewer’s attention. The Viewmaster represents the intersection of toys as both entertainment and education, and the uneasy link between design, ideology and power. Targeting children, the Viewmaster is historically implicated in problematic representations of history, a focus on (colonial) narratives and stereotypes, including the promotion of ‘normative’ values connected to whiteness, consumerism and progress. All the while neglecting difference, diversity and marginalised peoples. The Viewmaster provides us the opportunity to reconsider the role of design, specifically related to toys, in the enculturation of ideological systems of thought, specifically as related to the indoctrination of our youngest, and most vulnerable, citizens.
This project utilises the format of the Viewmaster reel.
The Viewmaster was first introduced at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, originally promoted as an alternative to the scenic postcard, originally manufactured and sold by Swayer’s Photo business.
My participation with Handshake6 began in January 2020, and I extend my gratitude to Peter and Hilda for accepting me onto their mentorship program. To Iris Eichenberg, Renee Bevan and Estela Vilanova, esteemed practitioners who gave selflessly of their time and contributed such valuable workshops, critiques, guidance and support- it has been an honour to work with you.
This project would not have been possible without the help of a great many people.
Finally, thanks to doN- always my greatest supporter x
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks also to all the other participants of Handshake6; Mia Straka, Nikki Perry, Fran Leitch, Jack Hadley, Susan Videler, Antonia Boyle, Aphra Cheesman, Amelia Rothwell, Macarena Bernal, Nina van Duijnhoven and Michelle Wilkinson, whom all inspired and provided feedback throughout; as well as all staff of the many galleries we were able to engage and exhibit with over these last few years.
Thanks most especially to my own mentor, Gabi Schillig, who throughout this project consistently encouraged and supported me and who introduced me to manner new artists, references and ways of thinking. It has been such a pleasure to work with you and I do hope we will get that opportunity to meet in person in the near future.
‘MORPH’ was shown at NorthArt, Northcote, Auckland, Aotearoa / New Zealand from 27 August - 8 October 2022. Simon Marcus Swale 2022
(c)
Images used in this series were gathered from online newspapers The Guardian and BBC. This book and the work presented in it, as well as the correlating work ‘The Stains of History Can Not be Erased’ (2021), were first exhibited in the final Handshake6 group shown ‘MORPH’.