Missing You


  • Photographer
    Kenneth Martin
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Technical Info
    Digital photographs

A series of documentary photographs depicting peoples actions as a result of past political violence on groups and individuals. Today people are demanding accountability for the loss of their ancestors and friends. The Armenians at 100 years since the Genocide demand justice, the Spaniards are still looking for victims of the Spanish Civil war of the 1930's, and American in New York and Boston are asking why their friends had to die in September 11, 2001 and in the Marathon bombing of 2013. I have been present at events related to all these moments and have photographed.

Story


Deeper Perspective

Title: Missing You
Since college graduation, many years ago, I’ve immersed myself in the pursuit of a deeper understanding about why violence has been so prevalent in the world and how its use causes problems for people through generations. I began and continue to study the Armenians because of the experience of my own grandparents and great grandparents who were born in Turkey and lost everything before and after 1915, including family members and property. I started by photographing family, then the local community, and through membership in community and political organizations found my way to various communities in the North American diaspora. What I found during this reverse journey into the past was complex, but one thing I discovered was that people often spoke about the lives of ancestors long gone with a tragic sense of loss, even though they did not know them.
Later I came to realize that Armenian were not alone in having violent pasts and that suffering people and memories were wide spread. I found myself drawn to them though a shared past and traveled to places including Nicaragua and later Cuba and Senegal, with groups that support greater human rights.
In Spain, where I lead study abroad photography classes, I met and photographed people who lost family and friends during the 1936-39 Civil War and period of the dictatorship. They like the Armenians are demanding to know what happened to their missing ancestors and want to know where they might be buried or found.
Senseless and violent political actions have also found their way into my own time and place and I photographed events in Boston caused by the September 11, 2001, attack on New York, and more recently the Marathon bombing story.
In each case I find that people collectively and as individuals are missing the lost, known and unknown hence the title for my submission, Missing You. Like many photographers and social activists I certainly can show the problems that I see and reflect the feelings of people, but I don’t have all the answers and so hope with that with impactful images others caring people will act towards ending violence and it’s generations impact on society.

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