War Photographer Flashcards
“In his darkroom he is finally alone”
His darkroom is his only safe space - when at home he feels numb due to his trauma but also the lack of care he receives from people, and when on the battle field he is met with violence and suffering.
“Spools of suffering set out in ordered rows”
Use of sybalance - uncomfortable for the photographer to look at and recall. Ordered rows could somewhat resemble a graveyard - the people in the photos died in pain, with suffering but these photos are a way to eternalise them. This is where they will rest and be respected by the photographer.
“The only light is red and softly glows”
Hellish lighting?
Softly glows adds a sombre tone to the scene, a dark and intimate place for the photographer to be.
“As though this were a Church and he a priest, preparing to intone a mass”
Once again this links to the idea that this is the photographer honouring them. Holding a funeral? so that he can finally mourn them.
“Belfast. Beirut. Phnom. Penh.”
The finality of death is represented through the blunt caesura. Sharp and short list could be reflecting the way in which people are almost unsensitive towards war-torn countries - horrors and lost lives are summed up in single words.
“All flesh is grass”
Biblical imagery - delicacy and fragilty of life - nihilistic approach of the photographer as he has witnessed so many terrors. Life is transient.
“He has a job to do”
Emotional detatcment from the act - he knows that he has to do this even though it causes him pain - he feels this is his duty and is an important role to play.
“(his hands) which did not tremble then, but seem to now”
When on the battlefield, his senses may have been numbed as he has been exposed to brutal deaths in war, but now he has taken home parts of the pain, fear and suffering. PTSD.
“.Rural England.”
The caesura on either side could be mimicking the isolation of the countryside from the rest of the world. This is other-wordly, and a place far from the places the photographer’s been. The people here are almost protected and shielded from the terrors and suffering of war, whereas on the other side of the world people are dying - the unjust distribution of pain.
“Ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel”
This is pain that can change, that is ephemeral and insignificant next to the loss and trauma of victims of war.
“Fields which don’t explode beneath the feet of running children in nightmare heat”
Reference to the infamous Napalm girl photograph of the child with burns and wounds running from American soldiers. The sheer impact of this photo, the emotion that was evoked from viewers in America had an influence on the speed in which the Vietnam war came to an end. Duffy is showing the importance of the War Photographer’s role, and how effective it is for people who are subjects to “ordinary pain” and live in detatched, comfortable parts of the world to understand the pain and brutality of war.
“Something is happening”
Shift in tone. A sudden action takes place: although we haven’t left his darkroom, we experience the vividness and clarity of the memories and images that conjure in his mind - The photos are also parts of his memory as well as being objects seperate - PTSD.
“half-formed ghost”
They’ve died but even in death their souls are broken and damaged - savagery of war.
“How he sought approval without words, to do what someone must”
He has respect for these people, and knows that if he didn’t do this, no one would understand the reality of what was happening in these countries.
“Blood stained into foreign dust”
Links to WIlfred Owen’s idea that war maims the planet and permanently damages nature. The staining of the blood could also allude to his difficulty in removing the images from his brain, and how deeply he is scarred by what he bare witness to.
