麻豆社

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A few days ago, the World Press Photo Foundation, announced the Photo of the year award. They chose an image by Reuters photographer Mohammed Salem of a Palestinian woman embracing the body of her 5-year-old niece. She is crouched down and her face is hidden as she clutches this small body. There are only 3 colours in this picture - the deep blue of the woman鈥檚 dress, a mustard headscarf and the white body bag her hands are wrapped around.
The photograph was taken just a couple of weeks after the Israel-Hamas war had started. Salem said, 鈥淧eople were confused, running from one place to another, anxious to know the fate of their loved ones, and this woman caught my eye as she was holding the body of the little girl and refused to let go.鈥�
There鈥檚 a lot of debate about the ethics of war photography, whether its demeaning and exploitative or whether the war photographer鈥檚 camera works as the visual voice of those who鈥檝e lost everything in conflict. But as one journalist has said, `It is not the mission of a war photojournalist to exploit human tragedy; it is their hope to expose its horrors.鈥�

At a time when everyone can make instant videos or photos of any event anywhere, when ai generated images easily blur the boundaries between fact and fake, there鈥檚 something arresting about the art of traditional photography which captures a particular moment in a history, a moment of silent grief amidst so much anger. And of course there鈥檚 the courage of the journalists themselves who feel the moral duty to stay in a warzone to capture the pictures that tell the stories 鈥� we know that throughout history, many have eventually taken their own lives 鈥� the trauma was just too much.

But do these distressing images that initially shock, risk gradually numbing us to the horrors of war? Because at some point horror can lose its power. People become numbers, tragic events become routine news and our empathy turns to apathy. I hope not, because while I think war is mostly unethical and futile, the greater tragedy is we turn our gaze away from its injustices. There鈥檚 a saying from a companion of the Prophet that `he who fears to weep, should be kind to those who weep. For there鈥檚 no veil between God and the cry of the oppressed.鈥� Tears aren鈥檛 a sign of weakness and when we share someone鈥檚 pain, we really see them. For me, photos of human despair may shock but they also remind us that we need each other and its only when we lose compassion that we risk losing everything.

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