Book review: Stephen Dupont
Generation AK The Afghanistan Wars 1993-2012
I would that my photographs might be, not the coverage of a news event, but an indictment of war - the brutal corrupting viciousness of its doing to the minds and bodies of men; and, that my photographs might be a powerful emotional catalyst to the reasoning which would help this vile and criminal stupidity from beginning again. W. Eugene Smith.
This quote from W. Eugene Smith seems at the beginning of Stephen Dupont's opus on Afghanistan, that is a heavy tome in every experience of the word. But do not allow that deter you as that is a story that needs to be informed, needs to be looked at. What we realize of Afghanistan is essentially influenced by means of what we see on the nightly news and in newspapers and magazines. But those snapshots can not deliver an insight into the usa and its humans the manner Dupont's 20 12 months examine does.
Generation AK is sectioned into chapters each of which begin with diary entries from Dupont. Words and pix want each other and Dupont's reminiscing enables to draw the reader into the photographer's world, albeit if handiest in our imagination because if you haven't achieved it, you can not clearly consider what it need to be like to submerge yourself in a battle region. To accomplish that voluntarily is some other story altogether. But without photographers like Dupont these testimonies could by no means be informed.
Dupont has an enticing storytelling way, and his phrases sweep you alongside inside the drama. As you pass via the primary chapter, The Civil War 1993-2001, the sounds of rockets exploding and bullets screaming overhead become an inner soundtrack to the anxiety riddled faces of the folks who came underneath Dupont's gaze.
In the bankruptcy on the guerrilla chief Ahmed Shah Massoud, Dupont tells how whilst he was travelling to meet Massoud he shared a helicopter trip with a useless Afghan General, the plane filled with the scent of "rotting flesh, formaldehyde and diesel fumes." My nostril twitches with the suggestion, but the notion is quickly changed through the force of the photographs, which seize Massoud along with his fans in addition to in quiet, reflective moments that make you surprise what this man who became idolised via his fans became clearly like.
Dupont's collection Stoned in Kabul, where he observed two heroin addicted brothers Reza and Hussein, is likewise featured in Generation AK. I've seen this work in exhibition and it is genuinely startling, raw and unnerving, reflecting the savagery and desperate nature of life on the streets of Kabul.
The series Axe Me Biggie (explained as "a crude Anglo phonetic rendering of the Dari for Mister, take my photo") also features. Dupont shot these images in a 3 hour window at the streets of Kabul. The series accommodates 18 portraits of Afghans photographed in the front of a chunk of black material rigged up to create a makeshift studio. These snap shots say 'take my photograph, let people see me, permit human beings know that I am not defeated, allow me look you in the attention and inform you my story'.
I first interviewed Dupont in 2008 now not long after he had again from Afghanistan wherein he'd narrowly neglected being blown to pieces in a suicide bombing. He'd been travelling with a poppy eradication unit. In the ebook Dupont gives an account of that day and the way he become working on auto-pilot as he shot and filmed the scene, in which fellow Australian journalist Paul Raffaele turned into severely injured. The pictures go away the viewer with little question that Dupont become lucky to have escaped this tour together with his life.
Generation AK is a ebook that requires time to take a look at otherwise it grow to be too overwhelming and the tale gets lost in the horror of war. Dupont is a master storyteller. He knows how to construct the tempo, to mix photographs that deliver a story that is complex but handy.
It always feels odd to talk about aesthetics when the subject matter is so grim, but this is a beautiful book and the reproduction of images in both black & white and colour is superb, which is what you would expect from Steidl. The book features a foreword written by Jacques Menasche.
When I look at Dupont's work the overriding emotion I feel is respect. Respect for this photographer who is driven to tell these amazing stories often at great personal risk and cost. And respect for the human spirit and the will to survive even in the face of untold horrors.
This is important work. Don't look away.
To buy the book visit Steidl
To see more of Stephen Dupont's work visit his website
On-Demand Books:
Out of the Phone Publishing
While we're talking about books, for those who can't get a deal with the likes of Steidl, or who just want to get their pictures off their phone and onto paper, Paris publishing house Out of the Phone (OOTP) has come up with a print-on-demand book idea that allows photographers to produce inexpensive books that are quirky and personal.
The first OOTP print-on-demand photo book is a travel notebook with a specific format and pagination that allows you to present up to 50 pictures. Produced in France, the travel notebook has an artisanal look and feel. Founder of OOTP Pierre Le Govic is hoping to raise funds on Indiegogo to build a website for what he is calling the 'world's first print-on-demand photo book platform for mobile photographers'. If you’re interested, take a look here.
Weekend Reading:
Daniel Berehulak - They Are Slaughtering Us Like Animals
New York Times
More amazing work by Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist Australian Daniel Berehulak on the savage anti-drug campaign being waged in the Philippines where Berehulak documented 57 homicide victims over 35 days. Berehulak photographed and wrote the story for the New York Times. Here's an excerpt:
“The rain-soaked alley in the Pasay district of Manila was my 17th crime scene, on my 11th day in the Philippines capital. I had come to document the bloody and chaotic campaign against drugs that President Rodrigo Duterte began when he took office on June 30: since then, about 2000 people had been slain at the hands of the police alone….”
Awards:
Lensculture 2016 Emerging Talent
Check out the top 50 in this year's Lensculture Emerging Talent competition, including Polish photographer Wiktoria Wojciechowska who I met at Paris Photo last year. She was one of eight in the Jurors's pick for her body of work, Sparks, which she describes as 'a multifaceted portrait of a contemporary war', in this case the conflict in Ukraine.
The gold leaf depicts those who didn't make it home
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