On the 4th of April I visited The Photographers Gallery to look at the exhibitions - one of which I was particularly interested in. It covered human rights and spread out over 2 floors of the gallery, appropriately titled 'Human rights, Human wrongs' the pictures seemed to present human progression throughout history from large and small scale wars to freedom.
The first floor evidently presented 'Human wrongs' by seemingly focusing on negative events such as slavery and large conflicts, the images on this floor also related to the first 15 articles from the Declaration of Human Rights including 'Right to equality' and 'Freedom from discrimination and slavery' - rights presented in the images as being non-existent at the time taken.
The second floor focused on articled 16-30 and displayed some images of the oppressed fighting back for their rights such as 'The right to own property' and a 'Right to education' |
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I feel that the documentary style photography shown throughout the exhibition captured the emotions present in the event photographed resulting in a powerful image which can aid the progression of positive change as the media aimed to do or encourage us to appreciate how far society has come and those who experienced these violent situations in order to get where we are today.
For these reasons the image I was drawn to the most on the first floor was a photograph printed in LIFE magazine which presents the aftermath of a massacre of Jewish people in a concentration camp. The large print emphasises the large scale of deaths and is part of a series which takes up over 4 pages further presenting the severity of the event.
On the second floor one of the images that caught my attention and stayed in my mind was of an older man on a congested train during Apartheid . His clothes are clearly distressed telling a story of their own while his expression is one of pain, when coupled with black and white photography a stronger image is created as I feel the contrast brings out the emotion and realty of the situation
For these reasons the image I was drawn to the most on the first floor was a photograph printed in LIFE magazine which presents the aftermath of a massacre of Jewish people in a concentration camp. The large print emphasises the large scale of deaths and is part of a series which takes up over 4 pages further presenting the severity of the event.
On the second floor one of the images that caught my attention and stayed in my mind was of an older man on a congested train during Apartheid . His clothes are clearly distressed telling a story of their own while his expression is one of pain, when coupled with black and white photography a stronger image is created as I feel the contrast brings out the emotion and realty of the situation