Photography plays a powerful role in the examination of human rights; it can serve as a tool of investigation and exposure, provoke dialogue, and provide a level of conceptual insight that is immediate and extremely affecting. Photography’s agency with regard to human rights is the focus of this web-exclusive feature, brought to you by Aperture.
Presented here are Anthony Downey’s “Thresholds of a Coming Community: Photography and Human Rights” and Jonathan Torgovnik’s “Intended Consequences: Rwandan Children Born of Rape” (both published in the Spring 2009 issue of Aperture, on newsstands now), as well as Ariella Azoulay’s essay “Asleep in a Sterile Zone” (Azoulay’s latest book, The Civil Contract of Photography [Zone Books, 2008], is reviewed by Todd Meyers in Aperture’s Fall 2009 issue, forthcoming in August). As always, we welcome your responses.