In a 2013 essay, author Barrett Swanson posed a searching question: “At what point does the aesthetic excellence of the photograph eclipse the depicted event, or, worse, distract the viewer from inquiring into what happened?” In the era of nonstop digital news and relentless global crisis, the issue feels especially urgent now, particularly when it comes to photography of protest and social movements. If such images appear to flatter the protestor too much, they can be faulted for encouraging performative activism and diverting attention from the crisis itself; if they are too beautiful, they may obscure the genuine danger of state violence. Yet if they are too graphic, they can strip subjects of dignity and turn dissent into a cheap spectacle.
Those are the kinds of contradictions photographer-activist Misan Harriman, who has quickly become known for documenting protests since the summer of 2020, is surely navigating with care.
Harriman is the focus of Andy Mundy-Castle’s new documentary Shoot the People, which follows the 48-year-old Nigerian-born Brit as he records activist movements across three continents. Harriman’s rise from amateur photographer to the first Black photographer to shoot the cover of Vogue’s September edition is notable, but even more significant is his nuanced portrayal of protests, especially, though not only, those in which largely Black and Brown people are taking to the streets.
