Photographer (part 3)

Gideon Mendel

Through Positive Eyes, Mumbai, India. 

Mendel selected(?) a group of 14 people, in Mumbai, who were HIV positive and trained them to use a compact digital camera to take photographs of their lives. Mendel took these images and created videos, these videos were narrated by the individuals. Thus they effectively became a vehicle for the individuals to communicating about their relationship with HIV; how they overcame their struggles (fears, depression, alienation, etc) and developed an acceptance of their condition.


Mendel does not say how the individuals were selected, but having heard their stories, I would suggest they were at peace with themselves and therefore able to communicate their 'journey' more effectively. The population is certainly diverse, with a number of individuals being very creative in how they communicate using the camera.

I particularly liked the video of Antony D'Souza - rather than photograph people and places, he cut out card and lit the figures, creating silhouettes that he then photographed; and Priya Devnath's story is very touching.


Kingsmead Eyes Speak

Another project by Mendel, focuses on the Kingsmead school in Hackney and a group of 28 pupils aged 10 and 11. The children were again taught how to use a camera and sent off to photograph their surroundings - the eyes part of the project. In addition they were required to write a poem as a theme for their images. The images were not made into a video as before, instead the children read their poems aloud and we can hear this - the speak part of the project.

Children are naturally creating and (I believe) have a natural eye for an image and this comes through very strongly with their images. What did surprise me was how very good there were at poetry. I particularly enjoyed Karolina, her images and poetry were excellent; and Mikotaj's poem about his brother being an alien made me laugh.