On Poverty

This afternoon I was going to wander around the local community hoping to find a few intriguing images to photograph. I did not have to go far. Outside the gates of our building sat an elderly, homeless woman. She appeared to be painting her toenails, but rather than nail polish she was smearing a gritty, tar substance on her toes. Like the salon her toes were separated to dry, but not by cotton balls. Rather, small sticks were wedged in these spaces. Certainly, this was a unique sight for our Western eyes. Unlike, the young children whose parents send them out to beg on the streets (arguably a rudimentary form of the welfare system) this woman was not asking for spare rupees, so in turn, I felt compelled to give her a few coins in advance of photographing her.I shot the woman from the left. Her knees were drawn up towards her chest so her sari fell loosely across her cachectic thighs. The woman’s dark, almond eyes stared into my lens. There is something about the Indian aesthetic that harbors the air of antiquity. I was not merely looking into her eyes, but generations of Indians before her.Moving to her right side, I once again focused-in through the viewfinder. Shooting continuously, I heard footsteps of a passerby behind me and I noticed her right hand move up to shield her face, while her left hand displayed the 2-piece rupee I had given her. Having been focusing on her face it was not until lowering the camera that I realized she had further parted her legs, exposing herself to me. I immediately stood up and while fumbling away dropped another 2-piece at her feet.This incident has haunted me throughout the day. I sit now unable to sleep, trying to make sense of it. However, unintentional my actions may have been I seem to have captured the exact theme I hoped to avoid—the cliché representation of human plight. It is not an artistic mishap that troubles me, though.Why had she exposed herself? Was she even aware of this? Why did she shield her face as the person walked by and why had she held up the coin at all? Was the sun in her eyes after I had changed shooting position? Or was she hiding her face in shame and holding the coin as if asking for understanding and forgiveness?Reflecting, I have asked myself why this photo would be of interest to anyone. Certainly, Indians would look at it like we would a photo of a homeless man on the streets of New York City—tragically yet apathetic. Would the fact that she is Indian and wearing a sari change your perception? Would it tug at your Sally Struthers heart strings a bit more? I have photographed a number of similar images, though not as explicit. I wonder why I have taken these photos in the first place having experienced squalid conditions in underdeveloped countries before.This account of my experience is not a realization of the fortunate existence I am blessed with, and again it is not a self-critique concerning my artistic growth. I photographed her because I was able to view her as an “other.” In the moment that the shutter closed, in my mind, her eyes had lost their voices and she became a spectacle. When you eventually see this image will you hear—will you feel her stories? Or will you see poverty?I have seen naked children digging in trash for food, maggot infested wounds, legless men pushing themselves along on carts, and children defecating in the village water source. Yet, I have seen these same people smiling more than individuals on the streets of the US. I have watched children playing with immense joy as they run with their grocery bag kites and families and friends dancing to the festivities of Dassera amidst the squalor of their shanties. So what does it mean to end poverty? Will it look better on paper than it does in the slums? What then are we trying to correct? Is the problem poverty? No matter the amount of support from governments and celebrities poverty will never cease to exist because poverty is arbitrary. In practicality it seems to be a subjective entity that does not represent the humanity of a person or a people. Undoubtedly, I will capture another image of a beggar or the inhabitant of a slum, but I hope that this time through the viewfinder it is my own eyes that I see. --Posted By Mark Stephany to Mumbai, India at 10/20/2008 09:46:00 AM