The Reaction Project
"The Photograph whose meaning... is too impressive is quickly deflected; we consume it aesethetically, not politically." -Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida p. 36
In this project participants were given a dozen images of war, famine, pain, suffering, and violence. With only a slight warning about the graphic nature of this project, they were instructed to take their time looking through the images. While they looked through the photographs I documented their reactions. Pulling on themes of societal desensitization to violence, the ubiquity of violence, mass media, socialized "appropriate" gender actions, and endless more concepts, this project has the potential for hours of discussion. There are also a hundred various ways to further the project. (The images used for the project appear at the bottom of this page because I do believe they add to the overall understanding of the project. They are rather graphic, so if you are sensitive to these sorts of things, please do not scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page.)
