{"id":3885,"date":"2012-08-22T09:08:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-22T16:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stirringthefire.org\/blog\/?p=3885"},"modified":"2014-05-14T15:27:32","modified_gmt":"2014-05-14T22:27:32","slug":"why-women-and-girls-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philborges.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/22\/why-women-and-girls-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Women and Girls? Part Two."},"content":{"rendered":"

Moving from the macro topic of gender equality to more of Phil\u2019s individual approach in his work, we offer the rest of the interview. (Questions in italics.)<\/em><\/p>\n

As a photographer you\u2019ve had to learn the art of approaching individuals not only for a photograph but also for interviews. How do you approach women and girls as subjects, especially they are victims of gender-based violence?<\/em><\/p>\n

I approach them as I approach anybody: out of curiosity and respect. I\u2019m approaching them mostly to tell a story. Just like you right now, you\u2019re approaching me and you have an agenda to tell a story. That\u2019s the way I approach the women that I bring into my photographs and films.<\/p>\n

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Phil Photographing an Acid Burn Survivor in Cambodia (Filming for UN Women, Photo Danielle Prince)<\/p><\/div>\n

Have you had to navigate that potentially awkward space of being a man and approaching a woman? How do you do that?<\/em><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think of it that way. I\u2019m reminded of it at times, especially in places like Afghanistan. I\u2019m very touchy. \u201cHi, how are you doing?\u201d [Mimics clapping someone on the shoulder.] I was reminded there: you do not do that. I don\u2019t really differentiate in my mind between women and men in terms of the work I do. I\u2019m just not thinking \u2018I\u2019m a man, she\u2019s a woman\u2019. I do hear about it though. I get surprised at times when I hear that there was grumbling in CARE because I\u2019m was a man out there doing this and why didn\u2019t they have a woman doing it?<\/p>\n

So coming from a macro-picture in talking about gender equality, what motivates you to tell individual women\u2019s stories?<\/em><\/p>\n

It is the most effective way for an audience to access a situation or an issue. It is just the way the human mind is built. We can\u2019t really wrap our heads around 200 million deaths; we can wrap our heads around somebody we know who dies, or is starving, or is oppressed. Nicholas Kristof <\/a>talks about this. He was doing a story on the issue of female infanticide in Asia because of dowry. There are millions of missing girls in the world because of this [type of] gender discrimination. But it was a non-issue. But then you have the death of Princess Diana and the whole world is weeping. At the same time how many people are dying in wars and [because of] violence against women? It\u2019s just the way we are built: individual stories move us.<\/p>\n

Having heard hundreds if not thousands of stories, is there any one that sticks out, or that touched you most deeply?<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m moved by stories that have to do with the \u2018wounded healer\u2019; the person who has been a victim of the issue and who springs back from the tragedy and uses it to propel them to address it for others. One of my favorite stories is the one of Abay, the woman in Ethiopia. It is the hero\u2019s journey<\/a> that Joseph Campbell talks about. They go out into the unknown world and come back with information for the tribe. That type of story is always amazing to me. They are powerful stories when they use tragedy to better humankind.<\/p>\n

Abay’s story:<\/p>\n