With the increase of social awareness through photography, what ethical responsibilities are required for social documentation? This online conversation on photography ethics features a roundtable discussion with Craig Easton, Mariama Attah and Liz Wewiora. Easton is the 2021 Sony Photography Awards Photographer of the Year, and his series Bank Top and Thatcher’s Children have recently been featured at Open Eye Gallery in the 2023 exhibition Craig Easton: Is Anybody Listening? Attah, a curator and editor with a particular interest in overlooked visual histories, is Head of Exhibitions at Open Eye Gallery. Wewiora, a visual artist and curator, is Head of Social Practice at Open Eye Gallery and manages the national network for socially engaged photography (SEPN).

More than seventy participants attended this virtual panel on photo ethics and submitted questions before the session, with Wewiora leading the discussion with the submitted questions. In his opening comments explaining his artistic practice, Easton describes his aim is to challenge stereotypes with authentic representation for the communities where he collaborates. An initial question from Wewiora asks, what is good ethical practice for working with social documentary? Easton, as an artist, favours the “golden rule” approach as an honest, open method. As a curator, Attah claims it is important to know how the represented communities are involved in the overall process. Artists should be self-aware when attempting to collaborate with communities by bringing other voices into the conversation. This, for Attah, is what it means to bring the invisible into the spotlight. 

Wewiora then asks, what responsibility does a gallery have towards communities? Attah believes it is important to universalise the subject matter presented in photographs for audiences with an emphasis on storytelling. What exactly is the story being told, and how is it being told? Engagement programs that run alongside exhibitions can foster these conversations, just as this virtual discussion on photography ethics is bringing diverse voices into the conversation. For Easton, there is a clear responsibility that artists have towards communities. He claims it is vital the unique sensitivities of a represented community have been addressed before the project arrives at the point of publishing and exhibiting the work in a gallery space.

Another question from Wewiora addresses what rights artists have to make social documentary photography. Both Easton and Attah state this is a difficult question to answer. For Attah, the question is tricky because on one hand, everyone has the right to make any art; on the other hand, there is no right to expect collaboration within communities. Shying away from answering questions or believing that certain works can “speak for themselves” is a cause for concern for Attah. Easton responds to this question by explaining his view on photography as an outward-looking medium. Easton asks, can we only make art of our own experience? He worries about the consequences of this kind of thinking, claiming it leads to artists only making work about themselves or their own experience. Social documentary ethics then becomes important because it addresses the difficulty of respectfully representing others’ stories.

One of the last questions asked by Wewiora inquires how photography ethically navigates social boundaries. For Attah, most of the work Open Eye Gallery does is outside the gallery in community spaces, in people’s homes, or online like this panel session. Attah encourages us to think of art beyond the gallery: navigating social boundaries for a gallery is to understand that not everyone feels comfortable in the gallery space. For Easton, there are many different ways photographers can ethically navigate boundaries. His own view of social engagement means finding common ground between himself and his subjects, documenting families talked about a lot but not listened to in a real sense. He concludes by claiming statements like “art can change the world” is “crazy” and perhaps “sets the bar too high”. For social issues like poverty, he believes art alone cannot change poverty through photography. Instead, we should think of photography as a way to start conversations about social change.

This virtual panel brought up several interesting questions concerning social documentary photography. What is good ethical practice for working with social documentary? Can we only make art of our own experience? What responsibilities do artists have towards their subjects? And, most importantly, how does art start conversations that change the world?

Lauren Stephens

Lauren Stephens is the 2023 Philosopher in Residence at Open Eye Gallery. She is an arts writer and a PhD researcher in philosophy of art at University of Liverpool.

Images: Rob Battersby (photographs by Craig Easton)