Bulisova response

In Gabriela Bulisova’s talk, “Collateral Image: Portraits of Iraqi Refugees,” she stated “My lens is not dispassionate, I am an advocate.” I know many people have found this quote to be thought provoking and striking. When we think of the lens of a camera it is something that we usually see as inanimate, lifeless. The fact that Bulisova anthropomorphizes the lens to say that it is not dispassionate, that it is therefore passionate about what it views because she is passionate about what she sees in the camera, is something I find admirable.

The photographs Bulisova showed in her talk were tragic with the wide variance of people who have little more than the clothes on their backs and the wounds they displayed. One of the more heart-wrenching photographs for me was the one of the little girl that is displayed in Upper Montgomery. The little girl, who was stated to be around six years old, had a horrific scar on her right side of her lower chest. It was swollen and malformed; more grotesque because of the fact that it was on such a little girl. It showed that though she survived the battles her country was and currently is going through, she will always have a reminder every time she changes her clothes due to improper medical care. Yet it also says something about the girl that she is comfortable enough to display her injury while she shows her personality with her bright color choices.

On the other hand, the picture of the mother of Iraq was of a different tone altogether. She had a television remote in one hand and a cigarette in the other. When looking at the photograph of such a mundane moment in time, we see that in the chaos of their lives there are moments they are just like the rest of us. According to Bulisova, this woman was a beacon and mentor to many of the Iraqi refugees, even going so far as to open a small school for the children to learn on the read and write. To see such an awe-inspiring woman in such a pedestrian pose seems to be a reminder that we should not place people on pedestals no matter how incredible they are because they are just humans that go about their day-to-day lives like the rest of us.

Overall, I feel that Bulisova’s talk was too short for her to go over everything she wanted to. I was impressed with what she has experienced and commend her on her ability to capture the some of the experiences and attitudes of so many different people.