THE FEMALE VIEW: Axelle de Russe’ & Hazel Thompson

This year’s line-up wasn’t limited to prominent print media figures only – the work of two award winning photojournalists was also included in this year’s program.
Below the city streets of Perugia in a series of underground tunnels, the work of photojournalists Axelle de Russe’ and Hazel Thompson visually discussed important social issues facing modern day China and Manila.

French photojournalist De Russe’s exhibition was focussed on the rebirth of the Chinese practice of keeping concubines, which has recently returned to popularity since the Communists banned the practice in 1949. De Russe’ documented the experience of three such concubines, who have been caught in this modern phenomenon mainly, in order to support their families. De Russe’ captured the everyday experience of these ‘other women’ – exposing the isolation that results from being dominated by the Chinese businessmen that ‘keep’ them. While De Russe’ had a particular talent for showing both light and darkness to demonstrate the power struggle between men and women in modern China, it was the subject matter itself that made these images so compelling.

Alternately, Thompson’s work dealt with a social justice issue that doesn’t often headlines. Thompson secretly photographed the inhumane conditions inside a Fillipino jail in the capital of Manila, exposing the enormous amount of children that are subjected to the horrors of adult prison without, in some cases, even committing a crime. Overcrowding was one of the main themes, as images exposed cells that were so crowded that prisoners, sometimes as young as eight, took turns to sleep while others stood due to lack of space.
Thompson’s collection was quietly affecting, with simple, clear images of the people who are still being subjected to such injustices – she let the faces of the subjects do the talking.

The role of these two collections was just as important as the other festival events that verbally discussed global issues and by observing what these images have captured, you can understand why.

Bridget Davis