The Fine Art of Documentary: Why beautiful pictures of war, poverty, and disease matter.

NORTH SHORE PHOTOGRAPHY LECTURE SERIES: Co-sponsored by Sweethaven Gallery and Firehouse Center for the Arts 

For eleven years, the Social Documentary Network (SDN) has been presenting powerful, and often beautiful, photographs of both challenging and uplifting situations around the world. The uplifting work often explores the grace of indigenous cultures, the majesty of the natural environment, or the day-to-day lives of ordinary people around the world.

The challenging work explores poverty, disease, environmental degradation, war, migration, and many others. Why does it matter that a photograph of a malnourished child is composed well, or that a photograph of a migrant family camping in the mud on the Serbia/Hungarian border uses black and white tonality in a masterful way? Aren’t the facts presented by the photos in such cases what is most important? Does form matter when the subject is about life and death?

Glenn Ruga and Barbara Ayotte will make a compelling argument why form matters, why art matters, and why it is a disservice to the issues being explored to only focus on the raw facts visible on the surface and not to also honor the integrity of a photograph created with the talent and skill of an artist who has organized these elements into a meaningful, and often beautiful, composition.