The Invisible Other

Authors

  • Edson Prudencio de Lima University of Sao Paulo. Group of Migration Studies (CEM)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2525-3123.gis.2017.127318

Keywords:

Photography, Child work, Invisible, Pain, Slaughterhouse, Pernambuco

Abstract

This photographic essay aims to provoke critical thinking regarding how we (do not) perceive other people’s suffering. The photos show our desensitisation to the pain of those who are close to us, who are part of our daily lives. The backdrop is an illegal slaughterhouse in the rough countryside of Pernambuco, a poor state in the northeast of Brasil. Images of children dealing with pieces of dead animals make us think of how we have lost our empathy to other people’s pain. These people seem to become invisible when they are part of our routine. The text leads the observer from the initial shock caused by the pictures to the embarrassing recognition that we do not often care about those who are in pain around us. Besides, the text briefly describes how this essay came out, who the people in it are and finally the dilemma between photography and its relation with ethics and aesthetics. The first exhibition of “THE INVISIBLE OTHER” took place in Freiburg, Switzerland, in 2015.

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Author Biography

  • Edson Prudencio de Lima, University of Sao Paulo. Group of Migration Studies (CEM)
    Systems analyst, English and Spanish teacher and dance and theater show photographer. He is a member of the Migration Studies Group of CEM / Labur-USP

Published

2017-05-29

Issue

Section

Gesture, image and sounds

How to Cite

Lima, Edson Prudencio de. 2017. “The Invisible Other”. GIS - Gesture, Image and Sound - Anthropology Journal 2 (1). https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2525-3123.gis.2017.127318.