RETHINK

Rethink - that's the theme of the next photo essay we're all working on as part of our MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography. Guess the advantage of it is that it's so wide in scope that everyone's bound to come up with some great stuff. Apart from tackling a topic which falls under the theme of Rethink, we've also been asked to rethink our technique, and the way we approach photography. Personally, I've had to rethink Rethink a couple of times till I made up my mind how I was going to tackle it.

I've opted to tackle the issue of censorship in Malta. 2009 has been called the Year of Censorship in some sections of the media, and with good reason. After being a dormant issue for several years, it re-exploded onto the scene last year, in what was meant to be the EU's year of Creativity and Innovation. The Anthony Nielson play 'Stitching' was banned by the censors ; At the 'alternative' carnival in Nadur, on Malta's sister island Gozo, people who'd dressed up as Christ or nuns were arrested and arraigned in court ; Malta's only porn cinema was closed down by the police after being openly in operation for decades, just round the corner from the law courts and a police station ; a University art lecturer had his work removed from a collective exhibition becasue it could have been libellous to politicians ; the police walked into a shop and asked the owner to put clothes on his naked mannequins, which were part of an installation that the owner had put up to raise awareness against sex trafficking ; a University of Malta student newspaper was banned from the campus by the Rector on grounds of obscenity after the editor ran a fictional short story about sexual violence - the editor is now facing court proceedings and could end up getting six months imprisonment. The Broadcasting Authority, a government-appointed watchdog which monitors local TV content, charged several programmes with 'bad taste' but let them off with a slap on the wrist.

The backlash has been widespread - Unifaun Theatre, producers of 'Stitching', instituted a court case against the Board of Censors, the Front Against Censorship was formed and demonstrations organised, several newspaper columns and editorials tackled the issues, an anti-censor play was hastily written and performed (yes, it did get past the censors in one piece) ; people have gathered together on Facebook planning to go to the upcoming Nadur carnival in large numbers dressed as Christ, and members of parliament have joined in the debate, with a private member's bill expected to be presented in parliament in May to abolish the Board of Censors. In the last week, government announced plans to re-examine the whole issue of censorship, and admitted the current legislation is antiquated and outdated, and not suitable for the 21st century.

One of the issues I now face is, how do I visualise and photograph things which are now in the past? There are some events I'd shot over the year for the paper, but I can't use those, as I've decided to shoot the whole project on pinhole cameras. I've already made a start shooting some stuff by using a pinhole cap on a digital camera, but in the next couple of weeks, I'll be going back to basics, using real pinhole cameras loaded with film ! (anyone remember film?). The approach will be far removed from my normal technique of shooting whilst moving fast on my feet, carrying a couple of cameras and a selection of lenses. I'm going to have to take my time, set the camera on a tripod, think very carefully about exposure, realy embrace and understand what pinhole does and so on. A lot of the photo essay is likely to be made up of portraits of people who have been involved in these incidents, as well as relevant locations. I shot a Front against Censorship demonstration a short while ago using the pinhole digital - some of the images worked surprising well. I also made it a point to record audio clips of the demonstrators reading from 'steamy' by classic literature. Those pictures can be seen here.


RETHINK DEMO - Images by Darrin Zammit Lupi