“In this example, the camera is used not to glorify but to
expose the contradictions within the economic and social system not by
statistical arguments but by depicting human suffering, and to give expression
to groups and individuals who normally would not be able to express themselves.
This is true both of the economic underclasses but also of racial minorities
such as many Japanese-American citizens who were placed in
"internment" camps by the U.S. government during World War II:”
This passage talks about the importance of photography and how it can be use positively to help the less privilege in the society to make known to the general public their untold story. It is important to archive memories not just in our mind but in photographs to pass those moments on to our families, friends and to future generations to make them aware of the atrocities or the kindness of our time. As the passage said camera is not use to praise during Walter Benjamin time but to show mass suffering and also as a voice for the voiceless. The passage uses Japanese-Americans as one group of racial minorities at that time to show how underclass could be marginalize and yet they have no means of spreading their story. The only means for their story to be told is by the means of photography or the picture below. This picture below really archives the sufering of the Japanese-Americans of Benjamen's time.
Dorothea Lange, Japanese Americans
line up at Tanforan Assembly Center, San
Bruno, California, 1942
Critically looking at the photograph anyone can tell the suffering of these people. Art is a great in telling stories like this one. I like the way you analyzed how camera the passage.
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