Pho·tog Friday: Joel Meyerowitz (Part III)

Prior to continuing with this Pho·tog Friday series on Joel Meyerowitz and his work, I think it's important to first address an ethical issue that many street photographers, photojournalists and documentary photographer are faced with on a daily basis. Depending on the subject matter, photographers who specialize in these sub-genres can sometimes be faced with both internal and external criticism for the act of doing what s/he does best: taking photos.  These photographers can be viewed as insensitive and perhaps, taking advantage of his/her subject in order to "get the story."

The late photography critique and political activist, Susan Sontag wrote, "To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them that they can never have; it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed. Just as a camera is a sublimation of the gun, to photograph someone is a subliminal murder - a soft murder, appropriate to a sad, frightened time" (Sontag, "On Photography").  I, however, think that Sontag's statement is too generalized and furthermore, her accusation was based on theory and not on practice.  I believe most photographers who shoot images within these fields strive to display an accurate representation of their subjects and treat them with dignity and respect.  Thus, displaying their photos to the public encourages positive change verses transforming their subjects merely as objects. 

Meyerowitz, Joel, Untitled, 2001.

On that note, to conclude this three-part Pho·tog Friday series, I would like to discuss Meyerowitz's book titled Aftermath, which includes four hundred images taken at Ground Zero shortly after the World Trade Center collapsed in New York City.  Amongst a handful of emotions that were felt by many on September 11th, 2001, a movement to "help" and "soothe" was soon established.  Meyerowitz, being a photographer, felt compelled to take pictures as a way to document those cleaning up the tragedy.  Given the fact that Ground Zero was a crime scene, many photographers were not allowed on the premises.  "To Meyerowitz, 'no photographs' meant 'no history' and he decided at that moment to find a way in and make an archive for the City of New York" ("Aftermath").

(Left to Right) Meyerowitz, Joel, Welders Working on a Three-Column Section of the South Tower at Dusk and

A Welder Wounded by an Explosion of Buried Ammunition in the Customs Building, 2001.

As seen in the forward of Meyerowitz's book, "Within days he had established strong links with many of the firefighters, policemen and construction workers contributing to the clean up. With their assistance he became the only photographer to be granted unimpeded access to Ground Zero. Once there he systematically began to document the wreckage followed by the necessary demolition, excavation and removal of tens of thousands of tonnes of debris that would transform the site from one of total devastation to level ground" ("Aftermath").

"Meyerowitz takes a meditative stance toward the work and workers at Ground Zero, methodically recording the painful work of rescue, recovery, demolition and excavation. His pictures succinctly convey the magnitude of the destruction and loss and the heroic nature of the response. The images included here are a combination of prints from a large format camera, which allows for the greater detail, and standard 35mm, a format which provided Meyerowitz with the freedom to move easily around the site and capture each moment as it happened" ("Aftermath").

(Left to Right) Meyerowitz, Joel, A Crane Being Erected on the Corner of West and Liberty and A Construction Worker, 2001.

"The remarkable pictures in the archive visually relate the catastrophic destruction of the 9/11 attacks and the physical and human dimensions of the recovery effort. The aim of this book is to provide a record of the extraordinary extent of the World Trade Center attacks and to document the recovery efforts. The book will serve as both a poignant elegy to those who lost their lives and as a celebration of the tireless determination of those left behind to reclaim and rebuild the area known as 'Ground Zero'" ("Aftermath"). 

"Soon after the Museum of the City of New York officially engaged Meyerowitz to create an archive of the destruction and recovery at Ground Zero. The 9/11 Photographic Archive numbers in excess of 5,000 images and will become part of the permanent collections of the Museum of the City of New York.  ...Twenty-eight of the images from the archive were displayed in New York and then in over fifty cities around the world in a traveling exhibition entitled After September 11: Images from Ground Zero" ("Aftermath").

Meyerowitz, Joel, Flags on the façade of the World Financial Center, 2001.

The true content of Meyerowitz's images lies within the eyes of the beholder, so to speak. Given the strong content of his images, the viewer is bound to have varying degrees of different emotions.  At any given point while looking through this book, one might feel: remembrance (of the day), heartbreak (for those lost), anger (for those responsible), admiration (of Meyerowitz's images as works of art), gratitude (towards the workers at Ground Zero) and perhaps desire (to avoid a similar tragedy).  I personally feel a mixture of all of these emotions when I look at this series although, overall - I also view these images as historical references. 

Works Cited:
"Aftermath | Photography | Phaidon Store." Phaidon. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 June 2014.
"'Aftermath’: Photos of Ground Zero by Joel Meyerowitz." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 05 June 2014.

"Joel Meyerowitz." Edwynn Houk Gallery -. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 June 2014.

Sontag, Susan. On Photography. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1977. Print.

"NPPA Code of Ethics." National Press Photographers Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 June 2014.

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