Photographer Mia Gröndahl takes as her subject the people caught in the struggles and seismic changes taking place in countries and sites of tension, such as Egypt and Palestine. In ways markedly distinct from typical photojournalism, Gröndahl’s images show her to be a particularly empathetic documenter of the visual manifestations of struggle, resistance, and change, revealing both the humanity and tenacity of her subjects. Gröndahl has produced fascinating visual documents that emphatically avoid the simple dichotomies beloved of the mainstream media, frequently enabling, or compelling, us to look again at the powerful medium of graffiti and how, in cities such as Cairo, the graffiti artist articulates and documents social upheaval. To engage with Gröndahl’s photographs is to begin to engage with the complexities of the Arab Spring and the ways in which Cairo’s graffiti artists have learned so much from the graffiti of the Palestinian struggle.
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Research Article|
May 01 2015
The Photographs of Mia Gröndahl
Eddie Chambers
Eddie Chambers
Eddie Chambers is a curator and writer of art criticism. Since the early 1980s, he has been involved in the visual arts, particularly the practice of Black British artists. He is also an associate professor in the art history department of the University of Texas at Austin.
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Nka (2015) 2015 (36): 62–75.
Citation
Eddie Chambers; The Photographs of Mia Gröndahl. Nka 1 May 2015; 2015 (36): 62–75. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/10757163-2914328
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