In the dark times/Will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing/About the dark times. –Bertholt Brecht, Motto to Svendborg Poems, written in exile in Denmark, 1939.
Some people sing about the dark times with their camera, documenting state imposed cruelty as much as the defiance by those affected. One of those contemporary photographers is Ximena Natera, a Mexican reporter and documentary filmmaker who specializes in migration, human rights violations, peace processes and collective memory in the region. Her work with Pie de Pagina’s investigation unit – they support at risk reporters in conflict zones – has been recognized by Mexico’s National Journalism Award, Gabriel Garcia Márquez Foundation, and Pictures of the Year Latam.
She currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, while attending the documentary photography program at the International Center of Photography in New York on a Jan Mulder Scholarship prize.
I had known about her work given my interest in issues of migration, but was reminded of her when a recent issue of Mother Jones featured her brilliant portraits of young children who attended Black Lives Matter marches, gatherings and other communal functions.
The photos were taken in the beginning of June, 2020. At that point, no-one would have hesitated to take their children to marches and demonstrations against police brutality and racism, that would take place in city squares, in front of public buildings, the streets of various cities in this nation. They would have been able to sing about the dark times, gaining a collective memory of civic action, learning that each voice counts at a young age.
Can you imagine now, with teargas, toxins and other ammunition shot randomly into peacefully protesting crowds of mothers, dads, veterans and nurses, how a child could be traumatized, if not physically hurt? They have to stay home, or do their little neighborhood bike parades which are gratefully happening all over Portland, deprived of large communal experience that would guide them on their path to be engaged citizens. The political implications of the current PDX situation will be far reaching and long lasting. Dark times, indeed.
And yet, seeing the photographs of the NYC kids create pure hope. Hope for a better future.
My own photomontages for today were the results of working at a peace camp with children of all religions some 7 years ago.
Music from the Resistance Revival Chorus singing about the dark times.