Street roots., March 09, 2018, Page 5, Image 5

Street Roots • March 9-15, 2018
News
Page 5
SHEIKH, from page 4
T his photo o f A bala D a s i was taken in 2 003 when she was
8 0 years old, fo r the series “M oksha. ’’ F a zal Sheikh took it
d u rin g his fir s t trip to Vrindavan, In d ia , a com m unity o f
widows a n d other women who’ve been evicted fro m their
fa m ilies. D a s i was m arried to a m an 2 0 years her senior,
a n d when he died, she still had a child to support. She
moved to Vrindavan to beg, but instead survived by
chanting at the ashram fo r money a n d food. She believes a
m onkey that visits her every day is her daughter,
reincarnated.
The son o f a doctor a n d his frie n d at an A fg h a n refugee
village in Pakistan in 1997. T his photo is from “The Victor
Weeps” series was taken when Fazal Sheikh traveled to his
grandfather’s birthplace in northern In d ia , which is now
Pakistan. H e fo u n d hundreds o f thousands o f refugees who
had been livin g in the camps since the Soviet invasion, 2 0
years earlier.
to photograph and other moments when, at
least for me personally, it’s not appropriate to
make an image. I think all of us have to,
somehow, begin to gauge for ourselves where
that border lies. What are we thinking of our
image making, what do we intend with it and
when, on the human level, is it too much of a
trespass to photograph or to trample another
person’s dignity or privacy.
very quickly to take cliché photos of unnamed
faces in distress.
“I didn’t feel comfortable beginning to work
in the midst of a community when I didn’t really
understand the magnitude of their exile,”
Sheikh said. “For me, the most appropriate
thing to do was to wait until a moment when
they themselves would feel comfortable with
E.G.: Fo r the series “Ether, ” you explored the
the notion of collaborating with me.”
streets o f Varanasi, a sacred city in In d ia where
For this reason, he would spend long periods
people often go to die, and while there, you
of time in the area around his subjects, getting
witnessed m any people sleeping outdoors, covered
to know community elders and gaining their
in blankets. I t ’s sim ila r to what we see here at
permission before shooting collaborative photos
Street Roots. We are located in a neighborhood
within the camps.
where there are lots o f homeless services, and every
In the years since, Sheikh’s work has
m orning we see dozens o f people sleeping on the
continued to bring worldwide human rights
sidewalks. It seems to me that these people have
issues to light through his documentary-based
m any things in common with yo u r photography
photography.
subjects. Often the victims o f domestic violence
“Common Ground” will run through May 20,
an d abuse, evicted from their homes in some way
and Sheikh will be at the Portland Art Museum
to try to survive in the elements. D o you see the
at 2 p.m. March 11 to talk about the exhibit, as
same sim ilarities, and have you ever thought
well as a new project he’s working on relating
about photographing people
to the Bears Ears and
living in A m erica’s
Grand Staircase Escalante
homeless com m unities?
monuments and the impact
of environmental racism on
WHAT: “Common Ground” by Fazal
F.S.: I think that that
Native American
Sheikh
project, “Ether,” is born of
communities in southern
WHERE: Portland Art Museum, 1219 a wish to explore the
Utah.
nature of sleep, dream,
SW Park Ave.
As an extension of
birth and death. Varanasi
WHEN: Through May 20
Sheikh’s exhibit, the
itself is the city to which
COST: Visit portlandartmuseum.org
museum has scheduled
Hindus wish to travel,
for museum admission prices;
several events and
either on the verge of
admission is free March 10
programs March 9-11
death or to be cremated
aimed at elevating the
after they pass away. So
Fazal Sheikh
voices of refugees and
for me, there’s this
at Portland Art Museum
spreading cultural
mingling of the sense that
2 p.m. March 11: Sheikh will talk
awareness.
I had of being with my own
about “Common Ground” and an
On March 10, admission
family members during
upcoming project
to the museum is free. Visit
their extended illnesses
portlandartmuseum.org/
and as they passed away -
Additional events
exhibitions/ common-ground
of witnessing and being
March 9-11: See the schedule at
for more information and a
part of, in a way, their
portlandartmuseum.org/exhibitions/
schedule of events.
passings, and so to have as
common-ground/
Sheikh, who continues to
a subtext, this kind of
divide his time among New
invitation to the viewer to
York, Europe and Kenya,
contemplate the fluency
spoke with Street Roots
between life and death. In the Third World, and
from Switzerland in advance of his Portland
particular in India, death is very much part of
visit.
life. For me, that was a big part of that piece.
Thinking about the notion of refugee work, I
Emily Green: In 2015, a photograph o f a
think there’s also this importance of gauging
3-year-old Syrian refugee boy whose corpse washed
for oneself where a trespass lies and what is
up on the Turkish coast raised worldwide
appropriate as a rendering. Is it O K to
awareness an d empathy fo r the Syrian refugee
photograph another in the street? Is it
crisis. D o you feel as though a portrait has the
something that one can do with a degree of
same potential fo r raising awareness as a
reverence for them, even though they are in a
photograph o f violence or death?
public space? And I hope that work is about
Fazal Sheikh: I’ve never felt comfortable
that. Though I’ve never considered that in the
with the realm of photojournalism, with the
states, I think that would be a very interesting
idea of provocation. I understand, perhaps, in
notion - the possibility of working with
some instances, that those kinds of images may
communities such as the homeless community
garner a degree of support for various issues,
in Portland, to think about the way in which we
but I also am not really comfortable with the
consider those groups and to try and create a
idea of trespass upon an individual. So if you
body of work that counters or broadens our
think about communities that have largely been
preconceptions.
vilified, as have many of the refugee
It’s very much as we imagine the refugee
communities, or indeed in America as you
communities, we’re freighted with these
would think of marginalized communities -
preconceptions about what those people’s lives
people outcast, people homeless - that for me
are, and certainly, I imagine that must be the
the most essential thing to do is to step back
case as well in the homeless community in
and to ask permission, to collaborate and to, in
Portland. That somehow a connection on a very
a way, be a conduit, the one through whom a
personal, intimate level may create a rendering
voice or presentation can come to a viewer or a
that breaks down your preconceptions about
reader.
what their lives mean. But I’ve not often seen
That’s the only way that I feel comfortable
representations or longer projects done with
working. I’m not very comfortable with
the homeless communities, but that’s sort of
insinuating myself into a situation, and I very
much know the moment when it’s appropriate
See SHEIKH, page 7
IF YOU GO