Photojournalist discusses international justice
In-depth examination of a subject was the focus of the Foreign Affairs Symposium (FAS) last Tuesday, when Hopkins hosted Jane Evelyn Atwood, a world-renowned American photojournalist based in Paris, France.
The last FAS event of the year was less focused on specific aspects of politics. Instead, Atwood presented a series of photographs relating to the more abstract ideal of social justice.
Atwood spent over 10 years traveling to women's prisons around the world to document the conditions there. Her black and white photographs showed couples embracing through a window at a visiting session and even a woman giving birth in handcuffs. One shot depicted a group of women, all of whom had killed their husbands, seated together.
"How many times did I hear the sad litany: 'I was at the end of my rope. It was either him or me,'" she said.
Throughout her career, Atwood has made it a point to spend as much time as possible with her subjects in order to present them as fairly as possible. For her very first photo series, which studied the professional lives of a group of Parisian prostitutes, she spent every night for a year in a brothel, observing the living conditions and lives of the women who worked there.
That experience early in her career shaped the way that she has worked ever since.
"The idea of photographing the intimacy of the bedroom is sort of a metaphor I've used in all my stories," she said.
Indeed, in what she termed "the saddest story I've ever done," Atwood actually moved in with her subject for several months.
It was 1987, and she was photographing a French man named Jean-Louis, the first man with AIDS to allow photos of himself to be published with the information that he had the disorder.
"We had never seen a picture of someone, with his face uncovered, saying 'I have AIDS,' so I started looking for someone I could photograph living with AIDS," she said. "It took me over a year to find someone."
The last FAS event of the year was less focused on specific aspects of politics. Instead, Atwood presented a series of photographs relating to the more abstract ideal of social justice.
Atwood spent over 10 years traveling to women's prisons around the world to document the conditions there. Her black and white photographs showed couples embracing through a window at a visiting session and even a woman giving birth in handcuffs. One shot depicted a group of women, all of whom had killed their husbands, seated together.
"How many times did I hear the sad litany: 'I was at the end of my rope. It was either him or me,'" she said.
Throughout her career, Atwood has made it a point to spend as much time as possible with her subjects in order to present them as fairly as possible. For her very first photo series, which studied the professional lives of a group of Parisian prostitutes, she spent every night for a year in a brothel, observing the living conditions and lives of the women who worked there.
That experience early in her career shaped the way that she has worked ever since.
"The idea of photographing the intimacy of the bedroom is sort of a metaphor I've used in all my stories," she said.
Indeed, in what she termed "the saddest story I've ever done," Atwood actually moved in with her subject for several months.
It was 1987, and she was photographing a French man named Jean-Louis, the first man with AIDS to allow photos of himself to be published with the information that he had the disorder.
"We had never seen a picture of someone, with his face uncovered, saying 'I have AIDS,' so I started looking for someone I could photograph living with AIDS," she said. "It took me over a year to find someone."
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