Week 6 – Narrative Photography

Two narrative photography projects that I have looked into are Truth Told Project by Sarah Fretwell, and The Narrative of Queer Couples by Akram Zaatari. Both of these projects show sensitive subjects, and look into issues that we could not imagine in the western world.

Fretwell’s project looks at the rapes of women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She writes quotes over the images which give a power to them, adding meaning to the portraits that she takes. In some images faces are fully, or partially hidden to protect identities, this shows that it is still a very real problem in the DRoC for women and girls.

(Fretwell, 2010)

Looking at this image in particular, without the text you may perceive this as a portrait of a child. She is posed with a nice smile, and a picturesque background. However, the added text creates the narrative and shows the story. “She said to me, ‘I want to know who is my father?’ I told her, ‘you don’t have a dad’ I won’t tell the child. It would hurt her.” (Fretwell, 2010). These words tell the story of the child being a product of her mothers rape.

Zaatari’s project looks at Arab queer couples. The images were taken in multiple Arab countries, all of which are muslim countries, where being LGBT is either frowned upon to the point that it is dangerous to come out, or simply illegal. These people sat in the studio to be photographed, and are showing their faces, potentially putting themselves in danger.

(Zaatari , 2012)

Looking at this photograph, it shows 2 young men, one is wearing a scarf over his head, and has a flower crown and is holding some flowers. This is very feminine, and could lead to abuse for this young man in his culture. The stories of these people are not only interesting as they stray from the norm, but also because they are putting their lives on the line to show their stories.

References:

• Fretwell, S. (2010) The Truth Told, Sarah Fretwell. Available at: https://www.sarahfretwell.com/reportage-democratic-republic-of-co (Accessed: March 22, 2023). 

• Zaatari , A. (2012) The Narrative of Queer Couples, Trend Hunter. Available at: https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/akram-zaatari-photography (Accessed: March 22, 2023).