Carlos Javier has received a number of grants for his work on Too Young to Die and his community involvement. These include the California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowship in 2012 for his coverage of youth violence as a public health problem.(www.carlosjortiz.com)
In his CBS interview, Carlos Javier made reference to the idea that many people know youth violence is a problem, but think of it as something that happens to others. "If people don't look like you... then you always say, that happens to those people," (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57577381/photographer-brings-chicago-gun-violence-into-sharp-focus/) he observed, a sadly accurate statement on our times and our world. His photographs attempt to bridge that comfortable distance we put between ourselves and the unthinkable.
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| Photo Credit: Carlos Javier Ortiz Image taken from www.carlosjortiz.com |
The above image is a stunning illustration of this disconnect and distance. This is a billboard, which people will see from their cars as they drive past. It contains an important message. This message will be seen by people through glass windows, safe inside their cars, maybe playing music, maybe yelling at their kids or another driver, maybe dancing. Whatever is happening inside that car, it probably will not include a child shooting another child. Once the car has passed, chances are this message will linger until the next billboard or the need to merge into traffic. The driver's life goes on.
It is also notable that that very next billboard includes a message of hope (I use that term loosely): Tell the Recession Where to Go! Commanding more attention is the Miller Light ad: Only 64 Calories, as light as it gets. This is forceful composition. A black child's face on a dark background, positioned next to "As Light as it Gets": this reflects the view of white people that youth violence is a black problem. At first glance, beer could not be further from the gravity of youth violence. Another look, though, makes us think about the link between violence and alcohol, even as the Miller Light billboard seems desperately to distance itself from the message contained in "I want to grow up." One billboard takes on a life-and-death issue, one takes on a beverage choice. That these messages are positioned as being of equal importance on the billboards further draws the line in the sand: it is us versus them. Gang violence is a "them" problem.
Carlos Javier's artistic choice to make the images black and white addresses the racial division and tensions that propel the cycle of youth violence. They give us the "us versus them": stark shadows and fierce light areas. They also give us many gray areas between, gray areas which represent the many sides to this complicated story.
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| Photo Credit: Carlos Javier Ortiz Image taken from www.carlosjortiz.com |
Carlos Javier's work is often distressing, and the events of last week have made me carefully consider which images to include in this post. This thinking further makes me address our discussions in class of how decisions like that impact our audience. Do I choose images for maximum impact, or do I respect my own and others' raw feelings? With such a range to select from, the question seems coldblooded but relevant. In the end, I avoided using some of the most graphic images. I had originally planned to title this post "Too Young to Die," and I found that I could not leave that in place either. The terrifying events in Boston are still too new.
Carlos Javier's photographs are not just shocking, they are beautifully composed, many spare and elegant, showing a skill with the camera as well as a passion to bring this vision to a wider world. The photographs are permeated with sadness, more so than anger. The title of the project, "Too Young to Die", refers not only to the shooting victims but the shooters, many still children or teens, who are too young to have given up their chance at a productive life, who know of no other way to exist. They now face incarceration or gang life. This is not to say that their pain or trouble is equal to a life lost, but that the death toll tells only part of the story.
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| Photo Credit: Carlos Javier Ortiz Image taken from www.carlosjortiz.com |
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| Photo Credit: Carlos Javier Ortiz Image taken from www.carlosjortiz.com |
The over 500 homicide victims in Chicago in 2012 also do not include the 2,000 or so injured in gang shootings (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57577381/photographer-brings-chicago-gun-violence-into-sharp-focus/). Carlos Javier has followed some of the stories of the wounded and their families as they move forward, to further put a face to these living victims and better illustrate the scale of this terrible war. Below is a photograph of Ondelee Perteet, a young man shot in the face in 2009 at the age of 14 by a 15-year-old and paralyzed. Carlos Javier observes that despite the tragedy, Perteet's is also a story of incredible resilience. "He is teaching me how to think about living." (http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/chicago-too-young-to-die-gun-violence-carlos-ortiz)
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| Photo Credit: Carlos Javier Ortiz Image taken from www.carlosjortiz.com |
I am a middle class, educated white woman attending an expensive private graduate school. That this is daily life for some people is unimaginable. Exploring these photographs has forced me to examine my own privilege and challenge my own assumptions. I am uncomfortable discussing youth violence as a social problem, when in fact I know nothing. I know nothing. I can wring my hands as well as the next well-meaning liberal, and wonder what I can do to get children to stop killing each other. As well-intentioned as that thought is, it gives me a buffer, and it is patronizing, and it is built on that line in the sand. Like the driver who passes the billboard, I can philosophize from the safety of my classroom, my blog post, my painting studio or my kitchen. When something of a more immediate nature in my reality comes up, I can pay attention to it, and put youth violence on the back burner. I can afford to think of youth violence as a "them" problem. My life goes on. This is my privilege.
In exploring Carlos Javier and Too Young to Die, I found my way to a photography project called Facing Change: Documenting America, a collective that seems to be today's grandchild of the Farm Security Administration photography project. FCDA presents images and recordings of America now, an America most of us in this class have not seen and do not live. From Too Young to Die to a piece on an inner city boxing club in Cleveland for at-risk youth, from a hospice for the homeless to a photo essay on life, today, in the Ozarks. Closer to (my) home, FCDA looks at the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and the political turmoil of the 2012 presidential election in the swing state of Ohio. In the tradition of Lewis Hine, documentary photography continues to be a valuable tool for education and awareness. www.facingchange.org.
Sources
www.carlosjortiz.com
www.cbsnews.com
www.facingchange.org
pulitzercenter.org
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