Tales from the Island of Serendip 4 4

[Flex Mentallo]

Papuan tribal leader Benny Wenda has also criticized Nelson for describing his tribe as "headhunters", when in fact the Dani have never practised cannibalism. Mr Wenda said: “The real headhunters are the Indonesian military who have been killing my people. My people are still strong and we fight for our freedom. We are not ‘passing away,’ we are being killed by the brutal Indonesian soldiers. That is the truth.”

[Flex Mentallo]

New Zealand's Maori community has also expressed its shock at being included in the exhibit and considered close to extinction.

Jay Dizzle, Maori blogger:

"Your title for the body of work is misleading and the impression people will get is false…I’m simply saying that Maori people are not part of a dying breed and we don’t need to be portrayed as such, for a book… Jimmy Nelson… You take good photos, there’s no doubt about that, but I believe the premise for your book is just plain wrong. I’m telling you here and now, that we’re far from passing away."

[Flex Mentallo]

Timothy Allen, leading photographer for the BBC’s Human Planet:

"The patronizing and self-aggrandizing narrative behind ‘Before They’ is literally painful to watch. Fortunately, primitive attitudes like these have been on the endangered list for quite a few years now and it is fair to expect that they will pass away long before any of the cultures Nelson encountered in his project."

[Flex Mentallo]

Julia Lagoutte, Green European Journal:

"Jimmy Nelson’s wrong: tribal peoples aren’t passing away, they are fighting against brutal oppression. The tribes in Nelson’s book face constant threats of displacement, murder, racism, or forced “development”, yet the average viewer would have no inkling of the suffering behind every dramatic print. Exposure to the western world is a rare chance for them to hold oppressive governments accountable. Instead, Nelson has selected picturesque elements from each place, added a pinch of untruths, removed political and social context and painted their deliberate and preventable destruction as effectively a fait accompli."

[Flex Mentallo]

John Edwin Mason, associate chair of the department of history at the University of Virginia in American Photo magazine, March 2, 2015:

“It’s the idea of the noble savage that goes back hundreds of years—that somewhere out there are people who are untainted by a corrupting technological civilization. And Nelson has gone out and found them, and he’s staged these elaborate production shots, which in their technical perfection are gorgeous. But what he’s giving people, viewers in an affluent Western audience, is a fantasy. It’s a fantasy that to me says more about the people who are consumers of these images than the people who are the ostensible subjects.

 

“If this way of life is disappearing, then why is it disappearing? And what does it have to do with us, as observers? It turns out that it has a lot to do with us. But we don’t see that in the images.”

[Flex Mentallo]

Davi Kopenawa, spokesman of the Yanomami tribe in Brazil and known as the “Dalai Lama of the Rainforest”:

"I saw the photos and I didn’t like them. This man only wants to force his own ideas on the photos, to publish them in books and to show them to everyone so that people will think he’s a great photographer. It is not true that indigenous peoples are about to die out. We will be around for a long time, fighting for our land, living in this world and continuing to create our children."

[Flex Mentallo]

Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie, Seminole-Muscogee-Navajo photographer and Director of the C.N. Gorman Museum at University of California Davis:

"Jimmy Nelson’s words of ‘authenticity, purity, beauty,’ are hollow adoration while his romanticized images are nothing but his own reflection. As for the Indigenous communities whom he has engaged, does he not recognize politeness laced with an ironic smile?"

[Flex Mentallo]

Tamara Beckwith, Co-founder of The Little Black Gallery

"There is a fashion for photographers to visit tribal peoples around the world and I do think it is important that they portray them accurately and highlight the problems they face and not ignore them. Coincidentally we have been asked whether we would consider hosting an exhibition of Nelson’s pictures – which of course we will not."

[Flex Mentallo]

Elissa Washuta, Cowlitz Indian:

"Nelson’s mission is built on a horrifying assumption: that these indigenous peoples are on the brink of destruction. He couldn’t be more wrong."

[Flex Mentallo]

The photographer says the large financial investment needed for the project means it can only exist by recouping the money commercially.

He has in the past also thanked his billionaire investor Marcel Boerkhoorn. He adds the sales attract an audience that's tired of being confronted by charities' messages.

Nelson says Survival International is trying to enforce "in a patronising, despondent, wanton way" how tribal people are perceived in order that its work continues.

 

"It's about money," says Nelson.

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Yet Nelson himself admits that none of the money from the book or the lucrative exhibitions will be shared with the tribes he photographed.

[Flex Mentallo]

As for me, they are comparable to the orientalist paintings of Gerome - stylised, seductive, technically brilliant, but ultimately providing a falsely romanticized image of 'the other' which denies these cultures their own voice.

[Flex Mentallo]

The models in Nelson’s work are mostly dressed in ways they are not used to. They appear shorn of the ‘modern’ things and clothes they wear daily, like watches, t-shirts and mobiles phones. People dressed up for annual Maori ceremonies are presented as though this were their daily garb. This could be justified artistically, but Nelson presents his photos as an ‘ethnographic record’. The photos are designed to promote his preconceived notions of tribal life, fetishising purity, authenticity and spirituality, as well as simplicity and connection to the earth. The Maori are an ethnicity, not a tribe, and represent a very much alive 15% of New Zealanders.

[Flex Mentallo]

Nelson alludes to tales of cannibalism and hostility towards white people, and describes gaining the trust of tribal peoples by appealing to their silliness and vanity. Despite looking scary the Huli Wigmen of Papua New Guinea are “actually sweet, giggly and vain”. Combined with heroic tales of how hard it was to reach them, and constant reference to their simplicity and connection with nature, this is uncomfortably reminiscent of wildlife photography. Ambua Falls in Papua New Guinea, where he shot the Huli Wigmen, in hilarious contrast to his claim that "It took me two months to reach them, via a missionary plane and a two-week jungle trek", tourists claim that the photo was taken at Ambua Lodge, a 25 minutes bus ride from a major town. It is staggering that Nelson can mention Huli anger at having had their land exploited in the past but make no mention of the current nightmarish situation of Papuan tribes, who face systematic rape, torture, arbitrary arrest and murder under Indonesia’s racist military occupation.

Edited January 6, 2018 by Flex Mentallo

[Flex Mentallo]

It is simply not true that tribal people have been “unchanged for thousands of years”; they have been evolving constantly, as we have. It is clear that for Nelson, their attraction and purity is rooted in their exclusion from the future, and their containment to the past – so that is the only reality he presents in his photos. By omitting their interactions with the ‘modern world’ that they are a part of, and perpetuating the myth that they are dying out, Nelson's work freezes tribal peoples in the past and effectively denies them a place in this world.

Edited January 6, 2018 by Flex Mentallo

[Flex Mentallo]

Nelson is a talented photographer whose intentions were not malicious but his work is, ultimately, a fantasy which works to the advantage of corporate and state interests who are doing their best to ensure the ‘passing’ of these tribes. Tribal people are not stuck in the past; indeed, they are at the forefront of progress, calling on us all to stop the destruction and pollution of the planet.

[Flex Mentallo]

They, as with other photographs and paintings I've posted here in recent weeks, continue to challenge my own views, my own engagement with 'the other', with Roshni. I hope that what I have shown you, and will continue to share with you, conveys some measure of truth as they see it, life as they live it, love, hope, suffering and resilience as they experience them. No more, no less other than we.

Edited January 6, 2018 by Flex Mentallo

[Flex Mentallo]

But there must always be that inner voice that questions, that asks if it is for their sake, or for mine?

 

 

Edited January 6, 2018 by Flex Mentallo

[comicdonna]

Very powerful stuff, Flex.  Thanks for sharing with us. 

[Flex Mentallo]

4 minutes ago, comicdonna said:

Very powerful stuff, Flex.  Thanks for sharing with us. 

You're welcome Mike. I always gain fresh insights when I research these posts, and this sequence caused a lot of heart searching unlike any other!