Can photography help to shine a light on a closed country ?
J. MacKay. Photography can play an important role in closed societies, not just by providing a so-called ‘voice’ for the people, but also by it’s incumbent power to inform, educate and challenge preconceived ideas. Throughout history, documentary photographers and photojournalists have recorded frozen moments in time that have become witness statements to the truth and at times changed public opinion about what one is permitted to know or have been told. With recent changes in society and technology it has perhaps been the moving image that has played a crucial role in Burma’s case, with the recent films Burma VJ and Burma Soldier both providing important insights into the workings of the secretive regime in a way that photography alone cannot.
What do Burma’s political prisoners signify about the state of democracy in the country ?
J. MacKay. The fact that anyone can and has been arrested and jailed for openly expressing their beliefs is like a litmus test for determining the democratic state of a country. For decades Burma’s rulers have jailed anyone who has dared to challenge or oppose their rule and even now under the ‘disciplined democracy’ of the new civilian government there are still over 1,700 political prisoners. A quote that sums it up was told to me by Aung San Suu Kyi when I met her at the start of this year: “If they can’t accept a point of view that is different to theirs and they are threatening to annihilate us simply because we express a different point of view, what sort of a government is this? What sort of democracy is this? Democracy, even disciplined democracy as they put it, has to accept that there are different views otherwise there would be no need for democracy and you just keep to a dictatorship.”
Any hint of what the next project will be? Are you ‘finished’ with Burma yet ?
J. MacKay. We are working on a few ideas, but unfortunately I can’t share anything with you here! I think one of the most exciting things now is to document the change in the country – whether superficial or real, it is an exciting time that can still go either way.
Notice. Photographer James Mackay has won numerous awards for his work documenting human rights abuses and corruptions of power in Burma, none more so than his project on Burma’s political prisoners. Those images form the backbone of his new book, Abhaya: Burma’s Fearlessness, which hits shops this month.