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In our hyper-mediatized world, victims of human rights violations are often depicted in terms of bodies rather than individuals.

Synopsis

Discussion featuring photographer Matt Black and Andrea Holley, Strategic Director, Human Rights Watch Film Festival

In our hyper-mediatized world, victims of human rights violations are often depicted in terms of bodies rather than individuals. Visual representations of human suffering and injustice are not only aesthetic choices; they are also political and ethical choices. By examining Matt Black’s diverse body of work, we explore the notion of a right to the image that protects the dignity of subjects as well as the integrity of the journalists, filmmakers, photographers, and researchers who work in these situations. Matt Black is a photographer from California’s Central Valley. His work has explored themes of migration, farming, poverty and the environment in his native rural California and in southern Mexico.

Credits

Matt Black

Photographer

Matt Black is a photographer from California’s Central Valley. His work has explored themes of migration, farming, poverty and the environment in his native rural California and in southern Mexico. Recent photo essays have been published inThe New Yorker, Mother Jones, and Vice Magazines.

He was named Time Magazine's Instagram photographer of the year in 2014 and is a contributor to the @everydayusa photographers’ collective. He has produced short films and multimedia pieces for msnbc.com, Orion Magazine, and The New Yorker, and has taught photography with the Foundry Photojournalism Workshops and the Los Angeles Center of Photography. Anastasia Photo gallery in New York represents his fine prints. He is a nominee to Magnum Photos.

His work has been profiled by National Geographic, The New York Times, National Public Radio, Time and Slate, and has been honored by the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Foundation, the Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund, World Press Photo, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Pictures of the Year International, the Alexia Foundation, and the Center for Cultural Innovation, among others. He lives in Exeter, a small town in California’s Central Valley.