Ha Huy Anh Pham
Daria Oprean
Pham:
"What you have written here about power... was so eloquent and comprehensive that I have almost nothing to add... And the stories about the power abuse you wrote are to such an extreme degree that I never imagined existed or could exist in our modern world. I have heard stories of vietnamese politicians exploiting their power to extort money or embezzle, but never so overt. Maybe it's due to the sophistication of powerful vietnamese political actors that allow them to conceal such hideous acts as sexual harassment and bribery? Recently some acts of corruption have been uncovered, and (supposedly) the vietnamese government is prioritizing combating corruption. Maybe this is just another act of pretense to increase our citizens' trust in the government? I really don't know.
Personally I've never been in the position of power, and to me wielding power is simply exhausting, due to the involved responsibility. I'm also more of a laissez-faire person, but sometimes having someone powerful to lead can be crucial to the survival of, say, a nation. You could disagree with our communist and authoritarian country on many issues, but in the case of our government's preventing the covid pandemics, it was only possible with the power of a united single party.
The power to change, yes, that comes from individuals. What we see on TV, like the signing of some important treatises, is only the very last step of a very long and winding process, in which thousands of different actors come together, give their opinions and through whose compromises the final decision is made. Though I think most political decisions can't simply be changed by a single person, and they mostly come by chance. Even if someone does something out of the usual or dies for their cause, this event could eventually be overshadowed by some news concerning something different, or their death could be interpreted differently from their original intention. Only if everything aligns, the media agrees or is paid to cover the story, and the people react to that event accordingly, could this sacrifice achieve its intended goal.
So what power remains for an individual? Aren't we composed of chemicals, of which outcomes and reactions can absolutely be determined, and thus can be manipulated? Aren't we all as subjects of a nation and made to think alike in order to achieve unity? What little bit of power to think and act for oneself is then gobbled up, distorted and deformed by the media and the influence of advertisements.
I like to think I have some power, to think, to act and to love."
"What you have written here about power... was so eloquent and comprehensive that I have almost nothing to add... And the stories about the power abuse you wrote are to such an extreme degree that I never imagined existed or could exist in our modern world. I have heard stories of vietnamese politicians exploiting their power to extort money or embezzle, but never so overt. Maybe it's due to the sophistication of powerful vietnamese political actors that allow them to conceal such hideous acts as sexual harassment and bribery? Recently some acts of corruption have been uncovered, and (supposedly) the vietnamese government is prioritizing combating corruption. Maybe this is just another act of pretense to increase our citizens' trust in the government? I really don't know.
Personally I've never been in the position of power, and to me wielding power is simply exhausting, due to the involved responsibility. I'm also more of a laissez-faire person, but sometimes having someone powerful to lead can be crucial to the survival of, say, a nation. You could disagree with our communist and authoritarian country on many issues, but in the case of our government's preventing the covid pandemics, it was only possible with the power of a united single party.
The power to change, yes, that comes from individuals. What we see on TV, like the signing of some important treatises, is only the very last step of a very long and winding process, in which thousands of different actors come together, give their opinions and through whose compromises the final decision is made. Though I think most political decisions can't simply be changed by a single person, and they mostly come by chance. Even if someone does something out of the usual or dies for their cause, this event could eventually be overshadowed by some news concerning something different, or their death could be interpreted differently from their original intention. Only if everything aligns, the media agrees or is paid to cover the story, and the people react to that event accordingly, could this sacrifice achieve its intended goal.
So what power remains for an individual? Aren't we composed of chemicals, of which outcomes and reactions can absolutely be determined, and thus can be manipulated? Aren't we all as subjects of a nation and made to think alike in order to achieve unity? What little bit of power to think and act for oneself is then gobbled up, distorted and deformed by the media and the influence of advertisements.
I like to think I have some power, to think, to act and to love."
Daria:
"I come from a background where power always went hand in hand with corruption. From when I was a child, all the institutionalized positions of power that were supposed to protect the people, were used against them. From policeman looking to find something they can fine you for, or try to get a sexual favour out of, to politicians, to doctors who would not try their best unless you bribe them, to politicians without a high school education that somehow end up calling the shots, to the priests and religious institutions who are the biggest mafia in Romania. And sure, we can blame it on communism and a desperate need of property, but it has been proven to us many times that power gets to your head. That power touches your ego, making you abuse it. The same simple idea applies to the Stanford experiment, down to my dad who used his position to not stand in lines anymore, to get access to faster and better resources, and to make his life easier. And in order to have power, you need people who are powerless, it insinuates a hierarchy. I think when you get to a place of "power", let's say just "more power" than the person next to you, you feel a sense of freedom, of control, that we all strive for. So instead of understanding the responsibilities and ethics that come with holding power, we use it, try to get as much out of it as possible, fearing the day we might not have it again. I tend to think about it as a game, and power just means you have certain "advantages" in comparison to other players, that will take u faster to where you need to go.
But that's on power as a socio-economical term. True power I think stands within us. Withing knowing the power that you have within yourself, having the wisdom of knowing what you can change. It stands in your spirit, your body, and the way you relate to your environment. It stands in love and in trust that people around acknowledge their power as well. Look at every big change that's been made in the world. It has not been accomplished by some Politian signing off on a document in front of a camera, it's been done by the people who fought for someone to hear them, who've died in the process, who thrive on progress in themselves first. All to change the mind of a man with "power" written on his forehead.
On a more personal level, I also have to say photography holds a lot of power. From forensic photography, to surveillance, to pornographic blackmail, to the "Cancelled" culture, photos become valuable, and they hold power over people. But I did not want to focus on that in my photograph today. I wanted to show the power the apparatus in itself has. When I take a photo of someone, I feel as though I am taking a little piece of them. I photograph them in a way they cannot see themselves. And being in front of a camera is a very vulnerable position. There's a lot of silent trust in a photographer-subject relationship. They voluntarily give you as the artist the power to use them (because there is something perverted and exploitive about photographing people), however they trust you to not abuse it. I think my photograph sums that up in a way, you see the subject, anonymous, however the shadows speak more than he does. You see the shadow of a foreground person howling over him, and his own shadow in the background, both showing a portrait of a subject. The photograph, on a conceptual level, withholds selective information and has a certain power of disclosing a reality outside of our vision."
"I come from a background where power always went hand in hand with corruption. From when I was a child, all the institutionalized positions of power that were supposed to protect the people, were used against them. From policeman looking to find something they can fine you for, or try to get a sexual favour out of, to politicians, to doctors who would not try their best unless you bribe them, to politicians without a high school education that somehow end up calling the shots, to the priests and religious institutions who are the biggest mafia in Romania. And sure, we can blame it on communism and a desperate need of property, but it has been proven to us many times that power gets to your head. That power touches your ego, making you abuse it. The same simple idea applies to the Stanford experiment, down to my dad who used his position to not stand in lines anymore, to get access to faster and better resources, and to make his life easier. And in order to have power, you need people who are powerless, it insinuates a hierarchy. I think when you get to a place of "power", let's say just "more power" than the person next to you, you feel a sense of freedom, of control, that we all strive for. So instead of understanding the responsibilities and ethics that come with holding power, we use it, try to get as much out of it as possible, fearing the day we might not have it again. I tend to think about it as a game, and power just means you have certain "advantages" in comparison to other players, that will take u faster to where you need to go.
But that's on power as a socio-economical term. True power I think stands within us. Withing knowing the power that you have within yourself, having the wisdom of knowing what you can change. It stands in your spirit, your body, and the way you relate to your environment. It stands in love and in trust that people around acknowledge their power as well. Look at every big change that's been made in the world. It has not been accomplished by some Politian signing off on a document in front of a camera, it's been done by the people who fought for someone to hear them, who've died in the process, who thrive on progress in themselves first. All to change the mind of a man with "power" written on his forehead.
On a more personal level, I also have to say photography holds a lot of power. From forensic photography, to surveillance, to pornographic blackmail, to the "Cancelled" culture, photos become valuable, and they hold power over people. But I did not want to focus on that in my photograph today. I wanted to show the power the apparatus in itself has. When I take a photo of someone, I feel as though I am taking a little piece of them. I photograph them in a way they cannot see themselves. And being in front of a camera is a very vulnerable position. There's a lot of silent trust in a photographer-subject relationship. They voluntarily give you as the artist the power to use them (because there is something perverted and exploitive about photographing people), however they trust you to not abuse it. I think my photograph sums that up in a way, you see the subject, anonymous, however the shadows speak more than he does. You see the shadow of a foreground person howling over him, and his own shadow in the background, both showing a portrait of a subject. The photograph, on a conceptual level, withholds selective information and has a certain power of disclosing a reality outside of our vision."
Ha Huy Anh Pham