Given the headlines and images that emerged from Haiti last week, Americans may be in a particularly humanitarian frame of mind at the moment. By coincidence, however, an exhibition of photographs from Congo on view in St. Petersburg serves as a reminder that while our awareness of such crises fluctuates as a function of media attention, horrific living conditions constitute a grim status quo in many regions of the world. The Democratic Republic of Congo — a nation of some 68 million people in central Africa — is one such place. Thrown into chaos by military conflict from 1998 to 2003, the DRC remains a place where social injustices persist in daily life, though rarely as "newsworthy" events.
Congo/Women, installed at the Poynter Institute as part of a larger, yearlong program of Africa-themed events organized by Eckerd College, focuses specifically on the plight of women in the DRC. Photographs by noted "conflict photographers" (shooters who specialize in investigating war-torn locations) Lynsey Addario, Marcus Bleasdale, James Nachtwey and Ron Haviv — who will speak at the Poynter on Jan. 27 — temporarily transport viewers into a world characterized, for the women who inhabit it, by rape, disease, unplanned pregnancy, malnutrition and other appalling circumstances. As if the tragedy of their subjects weren't enough, the beauty of the oft-evocative photographs provides a further shock to viewers' systems.
On Jan. 20, curator Leslie Thomas speaks on a panel at the Poynter about the role of artists in social justice. Last week, she took time to answer some questions about the exhibit. Read the Q&A and see a gallery of photos from the exhibit after the break.
This article appears in Jan 20-26, 2010.