“The most abused word in the world is ‘objective’ or ‘neutral’,” said Lee Yong-ma, a late journalist of South Korea’s public broadcaster MBC who co-organised a 170-day strike to fight for press freedom.
To continue the conversations from the “PROVOKE & Beyond” exhibition and the “Workshop on Protest Photography” of last year’s HKIPF, this roundtable discussion moves beyond the possibilities between protest and photographic creation, and explores the different roles of photography in protest movements.
As events unfold between precarious twists, the war-like images have become a part of our lives. Do these images—authentic or fake—that swarm the internet ‘document’ the reality of protests, or do they ‘create’ myths about the protests?
Images of violence elicit different responses from different viewers that are shaped by their individual experience, cultural background, political stance and ideological inclination. Some feel resentment, compassion, anger, and hatred for the oppressor; some watch the suffering of others with indifference, or even a sense of thrill. Have photographs lost their power to serve as evidence in the fight against violence and for justice?
Five photography practitioners from different fields and positions will present images they have captured of the protest movement in Hong Kong since June as an invitation to discuss: What more can we do about photography and society?
「世上最常被濫用的詞彙，就是客觀或中立。」曾策劃170天罷工以追求新聞自由，已故的南韓公共電視台MBC記者李容馬曾如此說道。
延續去年香港國際攝影節「挑釁以外」展覽，以及「抗爭攝影工作坊」的討論，是次圓桌會議的議題，將由抗爭與攝影創作之間的可能性，延伸至探討攝影於抗爭運動中的不同角色。
事到如今，那些猶如戰爭場面般的影像，竟已成為我們生活的一部分。那些充斥於網絡的真假圖片，究竟是「記錄」了抗爭的原貌，還是「建構」了抗爭的迷思？
面對暴力的影像，不同的觀者會由於其個人經驗、文化背景、政治立場、意識型態等的分歧，而造成不同的反應：怨憫、憤怒、對施暴者的厭惡痛絕，同時也有人以麻木的眼光旁觀他人的苦痛，甚或覺得過癮。照片，是否已無法作為指控暴力，彰顯公義的證據？
五位來自不同領域，站在不同位置的影像工作者，將分享他們自六月以來在抗爭運動中的所思所拍，同時一起討論：關於攝影，關於社會，我們還可以做什麼？
