I mentioned Shutter Hub’s call for submissions on this subject on 24th May. I submitted these pictures with associated text.
My lens has captured three images that are what has been described as ‘the precise and lucid description of significant fact’. Although they are partial in so far as I chose the subject and they show only part of a scene, they can be considered a truthful statement of what was in front of the camera. At the same time they, and all photographs, are open to interpretation through our knowledge, views and values, culture and history. We can take them at face value or look for the truths, inconvenient and otherwise, behind them, what they embody in the perpetuation of myths, in the existence of power structures and the brushing aside of history.
Che Guevara, Varadero, Cuba
A mural depicting Che Guevara, derived from the famous 1960 Korda photograph, stands outside the resort development of Varadero. It embodies two myths. First, that Che was a great freedom fighter, conveniently forgetting that his efforts to ferment continental revolutions across Africa and South America and lead to his ignominious death in Bolivia in 1967. Second, that the continuing revolution in Cuba was about social justice and freedom while Castro ruled a one party state for 32 years.
Fondamenta de la Tana, Venice
The juxtaposition of a Christian icon and a communist hammer and sickle in Venice is surreal enough to raise a smile. They are curious, though appropriate, philosophical bed fellows in that both promote forms of social justice and love of fellow humans. There they can vie with each other for the title of which has been responsible for the most suffering and death.
National Museum, Cairo
A gun-toting guard from the Antiquities Police watches over tourists taking a break outside the National Museum, Cairo. Guards, overt and otherwise, accompany tourists everywhere – the official story is that they are for protection from terrorists. Visitors are discouraged from asking why that should be necessary, why there are terrorists. If they think about it at all, they may conclude that the guns are part of a pervasive apparatus of state control and not there simply for the benefit of western visitors.
Regret to say that they were not accepted by Shutter Hub.