Truth in Photography
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SPRING 2022

© Maxim Dondyuk / Der Spiegel

The truth of photographic images has been challenged since the 19th century when the means for making them were invented. While the medium was embraced by the public at large, photographers have grappled with the methods and techniques available to them, experimenting with technologies as they emerged and discovering the capacity of the medium to represent the world they experienced.
 
Photographs are inherently subjective in the ways in which they are made and perceived. There is no absolute truth in the photographic image. Photographers frame the reality that they see, whether the process is spontaneous or planned.


The truth of photography relies not only on the integrity of the image, but on its accessibility. If truth in image making is a commodity, how much is it worth, and how do we determine its value?

VIEWING TRUTH IN PHOTOGRAPHY

The themes can be viewed in sequence or in whichever order the viewer chooses. Select a theme from the menu bar at the top of the page, or click one of the buttons below.​​
CONFLICT PHOTOGRAPHY
SCALE AND MULTIPLICITY

CONFLICT PHOTOGRAPHY

The struggle to ascertain the truth in photography has never been more challenging. Complicated by the insidiousness of photo-manipulation and artificial intelligence, the image we see may not be what, where, or who we think it is.
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Truth is inevitably a feeling, a sixth sense, that tells us whether what we are experiencing is factual and real. Still, any image, regardless of its content, without an honest attempt to contextualize it can be misleading.

Robert Capa once said, “The truth is the best picture, the best propaganda.” Sadly, this statement seems overly simplistic in today’s world. There is no single “best” picture, nor is there “best propaganda.”

At this moment, nowhere is the dilemma of truth more evident than in the Ukraine, where gruesome images of the war with Russia are being used by both sides as propaganda. But in the end, the truth of the image is more than that. Truth is knowledge, and knowledge engenders understanding, and at its best, can focus public attention on urgent humanitarian needs, and hopefully lead to meaningful change.

The staggering scale of human suffering, devastation, and genocide is overwhelming. We are inundated with thousands of photographs, filtered, and edited by print and broadcast media. Efforts by photojournalists to document what’s going on are persevering but are also being stifled. Increasing numbers of photojournalists are being detained and killed.

Who are the arbiters of what is too horrible for us to see? is a question that weighs heavy but is ultimately rendered inconsequential. While the internet and social media can become platforms for misinformation, photographs proliferate faster than they can be censored.

The battle for truth is raging.

To begin this edition of Truth in Photography, we focus on three photographers, each with a different perspective on the terrible impact of the war in Ukraine: Maxim Dondyuk, Matthias Bruggmann, and Rafał Milach.

Delve deeper

“We Have to Look for Longer”
Sophie Gilbert interviews Sarah Meister
​The Atlantic, March 31, 2022
READ ARTICLE

PHOTOGRAPHING UKRAINE
Maxim Dondyuk and Matthias Bruggmann

Kristen Gresh and Alan Govenar engage in a conversation with Maxim Dondyuk, a Ukrainian photographer, and Matthias Bruggmann, a Swiss photojournalist, who are both currently documenting the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and who have different perspectives on photographing this conflict.
PHOTO ESSAY
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UKRAINIAN REFUGEES
Rafał Milach​

Since the beginning of the war Rafał Milach​ has been working on the Poland-Ukraine border “collecting stories: interviewing refugees and then just photographing them very briefly.”
PHOTO ESSAY
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The following photo essays interrogate the pervasive effects of war in everyday life. Debi Cornwall​ explores immersive realistic training scenarios where American soldiers are involved in “dress rehearsals for their possible futures as casualties of war.” Amira Oguntoyinbo discusses how Kati Horna's photography humanizes both the civilians and soldiers of the Spanish Civil War. Shelby Barthelemy investigates how photographs like those of Gilles Peress can increase awareness and empathy, and Kay Brown examines how Peter van Agtmael aims for “the edges of iconic” in his photography.

NECESSARY FICTIONS
Debi Cornwall

Debi Cornwall explores the staging and performance of power in a militarized United States.
PHOTO ESSAY
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PHOTOGRAPHY BEYOND THE BATTLEFRONT
Amira Oguntoyinbo

Hungarian-born Mexican photographer Kati Horna crafted surreal images of civilian life on assignment during the Spanish Civil War. What can we learn from her documentation of the war’s effects on civilians beyond the violence occurring on the front lines?
PHOTO ESSAY
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GILLES PERESS
Shelby Barthelemy

​Gilles Peress is a notable French photographer whose work primarily deals with documenting intense political instability and human rights conflicts around the world. 
PHOTO ESSAY
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ICARUS
Kay Brown

Peter van Agtmael aims for “the edges of iconic” in his photography, as evidenced by this image of the attempted coup of January 6th, 2021. Kay Brown explores the metaphorical significance of this photograph.
PHOTO ESSAY
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SCALE AND MULTIPLICITY

In the contemporary world we encounter increasing numbers of photographs on a daily basis. Whether as small as a thumbnail on an iPhone screen or as large as a highway billboard, we are constantly being challenged to make sense of images which we may or may not understand.

The International Center of Photography is currently presenting the exhibitions A Trillion Sunset and Actual Size!, on view January 28—May 2, 2022. A Trillion Sunsets: A Century of Image Overload takes a long look at our worries and compulsive fascination with the proliferation of photographic images. The exhibition Actual Size! Photography at Life Scale is a playful yet philosophical exhibition that offers viewers a diverse group of images that all share the same dimension as life itself.

CURATING IMAGERY
David Campany

Curator David Campany discusses the current exhibitions at the International Center of Photography and the difficult questions they engender.
PHOTO ESSAY
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NAKEYA BROWN

Photographer Nakeya Brown's work incorporates objects and materials from the beauty industry to “share intimate moments in a way that is imaginative while pulling from memory and history to center black women and our experiences.”
PHOTO ESSAY
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COLLAGING IMAGE CULTURE
Pacifico Silano

Intrigued by the power of images in the world, artist Pacifico Silano makes artworks from photographed collages that explore themes of loss, masculinity, sexuality, and self.
PHOTO ESSAY
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WOVEN
Tanya Marcuse

Using a physical frame to create unique compositions of growing and inanimate objects, Tanya Marcuse prints her images of heightened reality at actual size, giving the viewer an immersive sense of wonder​.
PHOTO ESSAY
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THE MUSEUM OF SENTIMENTAL TAXONOMY
Kija Lucas

Kija Lucas photographs objects, which are at once sentimental and representative of the individuals who selected them, but also remind viewers of their own personal connections to similar objects.
PHOTO ESSAY
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  • Edition
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