Click! The eye of the camera sees like a stealthy cat—the truth of abject starvation, misery and resilient energy, and even the embodiment of blooming intelligence. The camera eye travels well, bringing the Earth’s far-flung corners into focus, something very evident in “Inspiring Change: The Photography of Chip Duncan and Mohamed Amin” at the Charles Allis Art Museum, through Oct. 21.
Milwaukee-based photographer and videographer Chip Duncan—author of documentaries for PBS, HBO and Discovery, among other media outlets—has prowled 40 largely Third World countries exposing poverty and famine. Almost incongruously, his often-lovely images stand sharp but painterly in hue. Laden with vivid form, contrasting textures and saturated color, his subjects radiate anguish, ardor and the myriad beauties of humanity. He’s a pro’s pro cameraman.
Duncan’s great inspiration is fellow exhibitor, the late Mohamed Amin, a true profile in courage. The Kenyan’s largely black-and-white work lends gravitas and vitality to Duncan’s, by juxtaposition and association. Amin documented Ethiopia’s devastating 1984 famine, and he’s credited for spurring hunger-relief movements such as Live Aid concerts, Band Aid and USA for Africa. While covering Kenyan pro-democracy unrest, Amin endured 28 days of torture from the oppressive government. In 1991, during the Ethiopian Civil War, he lost his left arm at the elbow in an ammunition dump explosion. He remained disabled professionally until a prosthetic arm helped him to handle cameras again. In 1996, hijackers took over an Ethiopian airlines flight, with Amin aboard. He attempted to rally passengers and confront the hijackers. But the plane crashed into the Indian Ocean and he died at age 53.
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Three brief, recommended video films complement the photos—one of Duncan introducing his work, another of Amin documenting famine, and a third of Amin’s son Salim, narrating his father’s powerful story. In the second video, we see a young boy’s fly-infested face and a child’s starved corpse. Yet Amin never exploits suffering for excessive effect, even when capturing beauty. In Fishing, shimmering clouds and the sinking sun silhouette two emaciated anglers standing precariously in a slender boat, hoping to spear some food.
In one of Duncan’s photos, a seemingly homeless man lies asleep below a ramshackle house festooned with kaleidoscopic graffiti, with a duck nearby, wondering about him. Duncan’s images seem more hopeful overall, exemplified by Empowerment, in which a young Afghani girl, bathed in a Vermeer-like glow, chews on a pencil, poised to write and enable her nation.
