Abstracts
Abstract
This article explores the role of migrant photo portraiture for life imaging by providing a close reading of two photobooks by contemporary photographer Fazal Sheikh – A Sense of Common Ground (1996) and The Victor Weeps. Afghanistan (1998). Visual storytelling is a core feature of this social and humanitarian photographer’s work, through which two main questions are addressed: how are real-life migration experiences as survival stories and personal biographies inscribed in the portraits of refugees and migrants? Which form(at)s of portraits are chosen, and which practices of portrayal are employed for the purpose of documenting migrant lives? Based on Jean-Luc Nancy’s portrait theory and Giorgio Agamben’s notion of ‘bare life’, the author introduces a process-analytical category of the ‘migrant/refugee portrait’ in order to grasp the complex (de-)figuration processes connected with the sociopolitical issues of human displacement. In Sheikh’s long-term portrayal of migrant/refugee communities and his concept of relational portraiture, she recognizes an effective documentary photo practice for de-othering and demigrantizing the portrait of the migrant as a stereotypical representation of the ‘other’.
Résumé
Cet article explore le rôle du portrait photographique de migrants dans la construction d’une représentation visuelle de leur vie, en se livrant à une lecture en profondeur de deux ouvrages photographiques du photographe contemporain Fazal Sheikh: – A Sense of Common Ground (1996) et The Victor Weeps. Afghanistan (1998). La narration visuelle est au coeur de l’oeuvre sociale et humanitaire de ce photographe, qui pose deux questions principales: Comment les expériences vécues de migration ressenties comme des histoires de survie et les biographies personnelles sont-elles inscrites dans les portraits de réfugiés et de migrants ? Quelles formes de portraits sont choisies et quelles pratiques de représentation sont employées pour documenter la vie des migrants ? S’appuyant sur la théorie du portrait de Jean-Luc Nancy et la notion de Giorgio Agamben de “vie mise à nu,” l’auteur présente une catégorie de procédés analytiques du portrait de communautés de migrants et de réfugiés destinés à expliquer les processus complexes de (dé-)figuration associés au questions de déplacement de populations. À travers son long travail de représentation de communautés de migrants et de réfugiés, et son concept de portraiture relationnelle, Sheikh révèle une pratique de photographie documentaire visant à dé-autériser et démigrer le portrait du migrant en tant que représentation stéréotypée de “l’autre”.
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Appendices
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