Catcalls, Photography, and Making Judgments

Hannah Price, a photographer, has captured otherwise uninteresting images with a very interesting motivation and narrative, namely, since her move to Philadelphia, she has captured images of men who catcall her and put them together into a photo project.

Though she does not believe her response causes these men to reconsider their actions, she feels that documenting the encounter allows her to take control of the situation, turning the attention to their behavior rather than her physical appearance. Claiming that the series is neither a judgment on men or a comment on race, the MFA Yale candidate uses her photography as a means of understanding something unfamiliar, hoping to find some sort of common humanity in the process.

Source: Jenna Garrett, "Female Photographer Approaches Men Who Catcall at Her and Takes Their Portrait," Feature Shoot, October 30, 2013, accessed October 31, 2013, http://www.featureshoot.com/2013/10/female-photographer-approaches-men-who-catcall-at-her-and-takes-their-portrait/.

You can see the entire project here at Ms. Price's website: http://www.hannahcprice.com/cityofbrotherlylove.html

What I find interesting about Price's comment that the series is "neither a judgment on men or a comment on race" is that all of the pictures of men who catcalled her are of an ethnic minority. Even if there was no intention on Price's part to comment on that obvious pattern, the very nature of a series of photographs with the narrative provided by Price is not only an explicit revelation of this aspect of our society but an implicit commentary, not only on race or men but on social norms and the female identity and status in relation to men.

The difficult tension of claiming that the series is not a "judgment" or a "comment" is that it emerged out of, as Price herself says, a motivation to "take control of the situation," probably a somewhat humiliating if not outright degrading one, and "turn the attention to their behavior rather than her physical appearance." It is a rather ingenious reversal of "intentional image emphasis," where the human intention towards an image is focused or emphasized. The motivation itself implies a judgment about the entire situation, namely, that it is wrong or at least not pleasant or ideal.

Finally, is it possible to have an "unspeaking" or "non-commenting" photo series, a series that by its very nature speaks meaningful images, put together with human intentionality that narrates those images in a coherent context? I am inclined to think it isn't possible. If a computer slideshow program randomly selected photographs from a database collected by images uploaded by humans everywhere, then I would be inclined to believe that there is no narrative or comment being made, and any perception of continuity or narrative would be accidental or projected on my part. But if it is an intentional human putting together such photographs from a database specifically made in response to a specific situation that arises in a specific social context, I would think otherwise.

But this isn't to put down Price's work. I think it's great, and it draws more attention to an experience that many women suffer from and a social practice that should stop but most likely never will until the end of time.