We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Chile 1973-2013, conversations with photographers 6

Click here to access article by Miriam Rosen from Mediapart (France).

 The title of the article is misleading--probably due to translation from French. It's really about a gifted Chilean photographer, Alejandro Olivares, who is interviewed in the article. "6" refers to six younger Chilean photographers recommended by Olivares.

His major work is called Living Periferia, a photo-essay, which has captured the hellish reality of life in a suburb ("Periferia" literally means periphery) of Santiago, one of many that are emerging under the reign of neoliberalism in the outskirts of metropolitan areas around the world. The 28 slides that make up Living Periferia can be accessed here from burn.
This work dives in a forgotten world, where many times not even mailmen are allowed in. It’s a world that goes beyond poverty. Wide ghettos in the further corners of Santiago where the State has managed for years to dump what they would rather not see. What investments must never see. What rich people should better keep ignoring. 
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