WP1: Rough Draft

In the center of Africa, just below the equator, is the country known as “The Land of a Thousand Hills”: Rwanda. This country is most known for the tragic genocide that its citizens endured in 1994. Rwanda’s population was ethnically split at this time around 65 percent Hutu and 35 percent Tutsi, two tribes that lived in harmony many years ago. After trouble started between the two tribes, it only went downhill. This genocide was very well planned, with the goal in mind to eliminate Tutsi citizens from Rwanda. Checkpoints were set up all over the country to help find every person whose identification card labeled them as a member of the Tutsi tribe. Men were killed on the spot, women sentenced to sexual violence, and children were forced to become part of the Hutu militia. Even Hutus that were associated with any Tutsi tribe member were not safe from the hands of the Hutu militia. This time period was violent and devastating, and led to many families being torn apart.

Besides enduring the horrors of the 1994 genocide, the citizens of Rwanda have had to be strong in yet another horror- the epidemic of HIV/AIDS. Rwanda is on the low end of the underdeveloped countries list and therefore does not have adequate healthcare to deal with this complicated and deadly disease. An example of this underdeveloped healthcare is in Rwanda’s child mortality rate: in Rwanda- 1 in 5 children die before their fifth birthday. While in the United States being diagnosed with HIV/AIDS can be very devastating, we still have the means to help fight it and keep the patient alive. In Rwanda, HIV/AIDS is almost a death sentence. Most Rwandans cannot afford care, or in some places cannot even find it. After these victims of HIV/AIDS pass away, many children are left orphaned. Over 600,000 children were orphaned in 2001 due to this epidemic.

With the thousands of children left orphaned after the genocide and the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic, a place was needed for these children to continue their lives. That is when the project and gallery that my photograph belongs to, “Through the Eyes of Children”, was born. After experiencing the horrors of the 1994 genocide herself, Rosamond Carr helped start the Imbabizi Orphanage. She dedicated her life to helping these children continue their lives despite their hardships. Being inspired by Ms. Carr’s dedication and charity, David Jiranek came up with the idea of the project “Through the Eyes of Children”. At first, the orphan children were simply given disposable cameras to take pictures of things close to them - themselves, their friends, and their country - to be displayed on their walls or in picture books. A year later, the U.S Embassy helped take this project to new heights: they offered the children a place to display their work and earn money to help their education. This is now what the project is all about: helping these orphans.

Most Americans are aware of the Rwandan Genocide and the many victims that lost their lives. However, there is another class of victims that can be forgotten from this event: the children that were left behind. The untitled photograph by Devota helps bring these forgotten children to the minds of the world. It exposes the environment in which these orphans live and the emotions that they feel. Through pathos and technical elements such as natural lighting, cropping and framing, and vectors of attention this photograph argues the difference between the life we, as audience members, may live and the lives that these children endure every day.

This untitled photograph uses natural lighting; therefore there are spots of sun and shade, bringing random variations of brightness throughout the picture. When first looking at the untitled picture, your attention is drawn to the lighted areas of the photograph. This portion of the picture consists of the crying baby’s face, cornhusks, part of a wooden beam and an empty gasoline can. Humans are naturally drawn to emotion; therefore the baby’s obvious display of emotion draws us to him.

Further analyzing this argument of vectors of attention within the subject of brightness, there are also contrasts of colors. The baby’s vest, the gasoline can, and the blanket make a makeshift “triangle of color” against the dull colors of the ground, wood, and corn husks. This keeps your eyes in that vicinity of the photograph. Looking further into discovering the main vector of attention, we bring these two concepts of lighting and color together: your eyes wander from the baby to the baby’s surroundings to the “triangle of color” and then back to the baby. The baby overlaps as a vector of attention in both the color scheme and the lighting. I feel that while there is not a formal framing, this is a kind of natural framing for this picture. While the baby is not literally the “center of attention”, these technical elements around him help frame him as the center of attention.

Along with an established vector of attention via lighting and coloration, there is also cropping in this photograph. The photograph is cropped in such a way to emphasize the baby and his surroundings. To the right we can see what looks like to be a pant leg, imply that the photographer took this picture on more of a personal level, kneeling down on the same level as the baby. This, as well as the baby’s attention pointed directly at the audience draws us in and allows us to become part of the picture instead of just observing. This technique helps deepen pathos in the overall picture. We can feel this baby’s need for comfort, its sorrow. It is, after this personal level is established, that we can further feel the pathos that this photograph offers.

Once we have developed a sense of pathos for the photograph, we can return to the main argument. From the lives that we live, we know that this environment is not a good environment for such a small child to be living in. We can develop empathy for the baby from this. The nests of blankets that serve as this baby’s “play pen” are dirty and torn. The baby’s clothing is also not in the best shape, and only consists of a vest: no diaper, no pants, and no shoes. Most babies also aren’t usually set to play in the dirt next to pieces of old pieces wood and gasoline cans. We are made aware of the kind of environment that the children of Rwanda, as young as the baby in this picture, live their lives in. This makes us want to reach out and help them, give them a clean place with toys to play in. The baby is also not happy, but instead is sorrowful and upset. It makes the audience wonder where the baby’s parents are, where his comfort will come from. From the tragedies that Rwanda has suffered, it can be implied that this little boy may have lost his parents in the Rwandan genocide or from the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This is the main argument of this photograph- it demands empathy and encourages help while giving the audience insight of what these children go through.

Overall, I deeply feel that the argument of this photo is a very important one. I want others that look at this picture to think of the children of Rwanda and remember all of the hard times that these children and their families have gone through. While some worry about getting homework done in time and complain about it, these children are just trying to live day by day and get the most education they can. I want the audience to empathize with these children, be grateful for what they have, and give what they can.