I discovered Wade through the British Journal of Photography and a feature on her collection covering refugees in the UK and the families that have adopted them (Clifford, 2018). The images are taken from her project ‘No Stranger Place’. As well as the subject matter and the images themselves, I was interested in the extensive use of text in the captions to each image.
Each image follows a repeating formula, the adopting family and the adoptee(s) shown within the home. In most images, it is clear which people in the image are the adopting family and which is refugee. I say this is clear, but on reflection that is me applying stereotypes by assuming that the white more elderly people are the adopters and the younger, usually black or brown subject is the refuge. In other photographers that I have researched, for example Michelle Sanks, they have left the viewer to make their own interpretation of the subject and left them to study the surroundings to make their own deductions about the subject. Wade has taken the opposite approach and supplied extensive text in the caption detailing who the people are, the history of the refugee and some details of the hosts.
As images alone, I find that this does not work in terms of stimulating my curiosity. I do look at the image but only briefly before then proceeding to read the, lengthy, text. After learning the history, I do find myself returning to the image but only briefly; essentially I return to the image to confirm what I have made up after reading the text.
I feel that these images would be studied more, and be more powerful without the lengthy captions. As an example, the image below containing Ingrid Van Loo Plowman. Without the caption, I would take some time looking at the image trying to work out who was who. I would assume that Ingrid herself was the host, but of the three others, it would not be clear if any were her sons or if all were refugees. We can learn from the text that they are all refugees but the curiosity is gone at this point.
The images themselves have followed a typology approach in that they are all framed and posed in the same way. I think that it is important to say that I find the images themselves very powerful. The consistency between each image means that one is not distracted by any variations in framing or exposure.
I do think that some of the images do not always match wording in terms of sentiment. In the image containing host Emily Reynolds, the words talk of how her and her partner, Gijs, spend time with their adoptee, Areej, watching movies together. In the image, the Areej does not look particularly close to Emily or Gijs even though she is sat in between them. I stay this in contrast to the closeness that is portrayed in the image with Ingrdid as host or that with Hilary and Jim.
It takes time to notice these differences and as I have already said, I feel that the caption deflect from this study.
I visited Wade’s own site and his biography (Wade, n.d.), and here he describes himself as follows “Aubrey Wade uses documentary photography to explore complex social issues, seeking visual approaches to storytelling that help audiences connect with his subjects and their experiences”. In this regard, I think his images and captions do work. The two together document the families and their stories. On his website dedicated to the project (Wade, 2016), each image is accompanied by a shorter caption, but a whole page per image dedicated to telling their story. I found that once a whole story was on offer, and the story became the ‘main event’ then the image provided an excellent additional insight into the story, it made real the story itself – almost as if the image were a caption to the story.
That said, and as I noted above, it is by looking at the images as a set, by comparing them to each other, that I feel I have learned more about the subjects. The choice to portray each image on its own page, once again detracts from this level of study of the images themselves – which is a great shame given how powerful I feel that the images are in their own right.
I have included a number of images below from the BJP page to illustrate the caption usage. All from the single BJP site, I have not noted them separately in the bibliography (Clifford, 2018).
Learning
The usage of extensive captions can reduce the study of the image. One should think very carefully about providing too much information. I am aware that this is something I am often prone to wanting to do in order to ‘make sure’ that the viewer interprets the image in the way that I want them to. I am starting to see that this is a mistake, this elimination of interpretation choice, removing the polysemous nature of the image, is likely to make it less looked at. Far better to put more effort into making sure that there is sufficient symbology in the image to give the viewer some hints – but to let them work it out for themselves.
Make the choice of what to put into the caption with purpose. Wade has made the choice to provide the detail because he wants to tell the story, he doesn’t want the viewer to make up their own story. It is the story that has primacy and the image is there merely to illustrate it.
When combining images into a set, the comparison of the images with each other adds a new level of interpretation and heightens the polysemic nature of the images. When creating a set, consider how they will be presented and take care not to inhibit a viewer’s action that could add power to the images.
Images
Charles Elliott, 61, and wife Catharine, 55, have been hosting Hussein, 20, from Ethiopia since October 2016. Hussein fled because his father is a political prisoner. Charles’ parents were refugees from Germany, so hosting people in need of international protection resonates strongly with him. “The big smiles and gratitude, it’s beautiful to live with. You just learn how to communicate even if you don’t speak the same language,” Charles said. “It’s very difficult to resettle,” he added. Catharine has raised two young boys who have now moved out. “The difference between London-born and Ethiopia-born teenage boys is minimal. Teenage boys the world over are the same. They don’t realize sheets need changing and that laundry doesn’t walk away on its own,” she said. “You just have to train them in the nicest way.” Hussein said his journey has been extremely difficult but he is happy in the UK. “I often wake up scared because when I escaped through Libya and they were shooting people in front of me,” he said. “It was too much. Sometimes I think too much, get sad, and can’t sleep. But generally I am happy now. I enjoy class, I want to study, learn more and maybe one day become a neurologist.” ;
Australian social worker Emily Reynolds and her boyfriend Gijs Van Amelsvoort are hosting Areej, from Sudan. The three spend time together watching movies and sharing meals. Areej volunteers as an interpreter for asylum seekers while she looks for work in environmental management. “This is one of the best things that happened to me,” she said. “I feel at home.” ; LONDON, United Kingdom – Areej, a 30-year-old refugee from Sudan, knows all too well how difficult it is to start a new life in a new country. She has a master’s degree from the U.K.’s Nottingham University in environmental management but spends most of her time doing voluntary work and looking for work. She volunteers as an interpreter for asylum seekers in shelters and as an English language tutor. Areej, who is from Khartoum, recalled when she was an asylum seeker in 2015 and received refugee status the following year. “It’s almost harder being a refugee because as an asylum seeker you get housing and three meals a day but as a refugee you are completely on your own after 28 days,” she said. When she received refugee status, she was volunteering for a homelessness scheme supported by Westminster City Council in London. Someone she met there suggested she contact Refugees At Home, which helps match refugees with hosts. The process was simple and quick. In August 2016, Areej moved in with social worker Emily Reynolds, 28, and her boyfriend Gijs Van Amelsvoort, 38, who manages a coffee shop in East London. “Initially when we talked about this we thought about all these possible house rules. Then we met Areej and we were like ‘oh whatever’,” Gijs said. “She’s great. She was very polite and shy in the beginning but within a week she started being sassy and making jokes.” The three often spend time watching television shows or films together. Areej loves reading and they also exchange books. “We get along really well and that’s the most lovely surprising thing that
Ingrid Van Loo Plowman, a volunteer and former doctor, hosts three refugees in her home in Epsom, near London. Her two eldest children have moved out and 14-year-old Ross still lives at home. Her guests are Isak, 18, from Ethiopia, 19-year-old Abdul, from Syria and a 31-year-old engineer from the Middle East who declined to be identified for security reasons. Ingrid said they felt like her own children. “I always tell them one day you pay me back by having a good job and speaking good English,” she said. ; EPSOM, United Kingdom – Nineteen-year-old Syrian refugee Abdul left a lasting impression on charity volunteer Ingrid Van Loo Plowman when she met him at a hotel for asylum-seekers in the English city of Birmingham. They stayed in contact and Ingrid, a former doctor, invited him to visit her and her 14-year-old son Ross in the market town of Epsom, just outside London. The teenagers got on so well that she invited Abdul to move in with them after he was given asylum. “I met Abdul and he immediately made a huge impression on me because he was trying so hard to speak English and was so eager to go to university,” Ingrid said. “We stayed in touch through Facebook and I sent him books.” Abdul fled Syria in 2014 when a bomb flattened his neighborhood and rockets destroyed his home. His family went to Turkey and he headed for Lebanon where he spent a year doing odd jobs until he saved enough money to go to Greece. He found his way to the United Kingdom after spending four weeks in the notorious makeshift camp for migrants and asylum-seekers known as “the Jungle” outside Calais on the French coast. Nothing prepared him for the horrific conditions in the Jungle. “People literally died around us in Calais, it was very scary and dangerous,” he said. “I was 100 percent certain I was going to die. I never felt so much terror in my life,” he said. When he finally reached British shores on the back of a train, he was so happy he hugged theHilary Parle, 63, a retired GP and her husband, Jim, a professor of family medicine at Birmingham University, are hosting Yonasskindis*, a 72-year-old Eritrean. Yonasskindis* has been in the United Kingdom for eight years and with them since January 2017. Yonasskindis is a voracious reader with excellent English. Jim and Hilary decided they had to do something after seeing news reports of the body of the three-year-old Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi which was washed ashore in Turkey in 2015. “They are like my brother and sister,” Yonasskindis says of his hosts. “This feels like my home, they are like my family. I have the keys, no restrictions no nothing. If it wasn’t for them I would be on the street.” “It’s been remarkably straight forward. We both sit together, drinking tea and reading.” *Names have been changed to protect the individuals ; BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom – Birmingham couple Hilary and Jim Parle decided to offer to host refugees after hearing the tragic story of three-year-old Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi, whose body was washed up on a beach in Turkey in 2015. “We saw the picture of the toddler lying face down on the beach and that was it,” Hilary said. “We had to do something to help.” Retired GP Hilary, 63, and 62-year-old Jim, a professor of family medicine at Birmingham University, had room in their four-bedroom house after their three adult children had moved away. Via the Internet, Hilary found the Birch Network, which arranges support and accommodation for refugees, and the couple was soon taking in guests. After hosting four people, in January this year they welcomed Yonasskindis*, a 72-year-old Eritrean who fled his home country after receiving death threats. A former bar owner and accountant, Yonasskindis supported the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), the country’s main independence movement, and has been in the UK for eight years. His asylum application was rejected and no reason was given, but he is appealing and
Bibliography
Clifford, E., 2018. Great British Welcome Highlights Refugees And Their Hosts Across Britain. [online] British Journal of Photography. Available at: <https://www.bjp-online.com/2018/01/great-british-welcome/?> [Accessed 7 June 2020].
Wade, A., n.d. Aubrey Wade: Biography. [online] Aubreywade.com. Available at: <http://www.aubreywade.com/biography.html> [Accessed 7 June 2020].
Wade, A., 2016. No Stranger Place. [online] No Stranger Place. Available at: <http://nostrangerplace.org> [Accessed 7 June 2020].
