Socio-Ecological Health Research Unit, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan.
Glob Public Health. 2024 Jan;19(1):2394811. doi: 10.1080/17441692.2024.2394811. Epub 2024 Aug 23.
Global health photography has historically been commissioned and, therefore, dominated by the gaze of Western photographers on assignments in the Global South. This is changing as part of international calls to decolonise global health and stimulate 'empowerment', spawning a growing initiative to hire local photographers. This article, based on interviews with global health photographers, reflects on this paradigm shift. It highlights how behind the laudable aim of 'empowerment' of local global health photography there is a simultaneous exploitation of precarious photographer labour and the emergence of 'glocal' photography elites. The paper argues that empowerment of local photographers can become a euphemism for reducing image production costs and maintaining control over the image content, while extending the scope of mainstream global health visual culture without challenging it. Finally, the article amplifies the growing concern that uncritical engagement with institutionalised empowerment becomes a warrant for the reproduction of local inequalities behind the fashionable façade of cooperation and care.
全球健康摄影在历史上一直是由西方摄影师委托并主导的，他们在全球南方的任务中进行拍摄。随着将全球健康去殖民化和激发“赋权”的国际呼吁的一部分，这种情况正在发生变化，这催生了越来越多雇佣当地摄影师的举措。本文基于对全球健康摄影师的采访，反映了这一范式转变。它强调了在“赋权”当地全球健康摄影的崇高目标背后，如何同时利用不稳定的摄影师劳动力，并出现了“全球本土化”摄影精英。本文认为，赋予当地摄影师权力可能成为降低图像制作成本和保持对图像内容控制的委婉说法，同时在不挑战主流全球健康视觉文化的情况下扩大其范围。最后，本文强调了人们越来越关注的问题，即对制度化赋权的不加批判的参与，成为在合作和关怀的时尚外表背后复制当地不平等现象的保证。
