EA/Clinton Institute Special: The Photos of the Decade

REUTERS/Juan Medina

Starting today, Enduring America teams up with the Photography and International Conflict website of the Clinton Institute for American Studies in a special project on "The Photos of the Decade". Each day for 10 days we will post a photograph from a year in the decade, and we will invite readers to submit their own memorable photographs. We will then continue the discussion until readers select The Photograph of the Decade.

Photos of the Decade: 2009 (Neda)
Photos of the Decade: 2008 (Sichuan Earthquake)
Photos of the Decade: 2007 (Bhutto Assassination)
Photos of the Decade: 2006 (Immigrant on a Beach)
Photos of the Decade: 2005 (Tsunami)
Photos of the Decade: 2004 (Abu Ghraib)
Photos of the Decade: 2003 (Bombs on Baghdad)
Photos of the Decade: 2002 (Daniel Pearl)
Photos of the Decade: 2001 (9-11 Moment)
Photos of the Decade: 2000 (West Bank)

Liam Kennedy, the Director of the Clinton Institute, writes:

These photographs depict significant moments and events in the decade 2000-2009. The selection is not intended to denote the "best" news photographs but to provide a visual iconography of the period, one which may be suggestive as much for what it excludes as it includes.


All these photographs represent the macabre subject-matter that takes on iconic significance: death, destruction, and bodies in pain. With the passing of time, our viewing of these images may shift as their immediacy is displaced by narratives of recent history. For example, we may now see the image from 2000, depicting Palestinians attempting to escape tear gas fired by Israeli soldiers, as symbolic not only of the moment of the "Second Intifada" but of rippling violence and unrest within and well beyond that region through the decade.

These photographs also indicate some of the significant changes in visual media technologies during the decade. Photographs taken by camera-phones or re-mediated as frame grabs from videos are now commonly "newsworthy" and even iconic. Enabled by the technologies, much news imagery is now being produced by amateur photographers and "citizen journalists", a remarkable expansion of global capacities for visually documenting war, conflict and human rights abuses.

There are competing views on the effects of this increased flow of images. The more optimistic tend to argue that visual technologies have globalised human conscience, expanding our understanding of the human and of claims of the vulnerability of others. Pessimists point to continuing inequalities in media production and distribution and refer to a growing consumption of suffering and an accompanying "compassion fatigue".

At the heart of these differing perspectives is the issue of the ethical (and political) function of the image as a mode of evidentiary representation that bears witness to the suffering and degradation of others. That function is at issue in every one of these images. just as it was at issue in every one of the images recently emanating from Haiti.

Comments

[Paleene]

"'(...) There are competing views on the effects of this increased flow of images (...)"

Indeed. And apart fromt the surfeit the constant flow of pictures produces I'd appreciate a serious look at the support malicious powers gain from it. Regimes like the Iranian benefit from this freely delivered evidence, but this is only the most obvious part of the game, isn't it? It starts with manipulating by pics (which in itself might be totally true) and it ends with everyone of us being permanently surveyed - by public video scanning as well as by the average school kid taking fotos and putting them on facebook/ you tube a.o. without the photographed even noticing.

If I got you right in your intention of opening the established "Photo of the Year"-scene for amateur photographers, I find the positiong of this attempt within this broad field of media use and misuse most controversial, but highly interesting and do look forward for the contributions from the readers. Both, in images and words.

[Chris]

Can you start a trivial pursuit like game next week?

Or an EA's choice award for best action movie of the decade?

How about we vote for the best romance novel of the decade?

Start a poll that asks EA readers if Tiger Woods should apologize to his former mistress. ROFL.

Pathetic rubish!

[Jonny]

A couple of these image are extraordinary, but I think overall they don't illustrate too much about events and are a frustrating selection. The description mentions these what is missing from these is important. This is why I think think the phtographs are not the best selection. They feel like photographs that illustrate the horrors of well known events, not photographs that make us think more about those events. I really hope that one of the consequences of 'new media' isn't that photographs and images become instant reports from the major events; the power of images is more than just to illustrate what happened.

Hence, my favourite on this list is probably the 9/11 shot.

Also, I can't help but notice that no images specifically address Africa which seems a strange omission. You could say the immigrant one does, but that's odd as it also doesn't mention Africa in the title.

P.s. I also agree that the West Bank photo looks photoshopped, not that it matters really; shots of troops fighting at El-Alamein and in North Africa in WWII were staged.