Smita Sharma: On empathy in storytelling

In this episode, we talk with Smita Sharma about how she approaches difficult and sensitive stories by first connecting to people with empathy. She stresses the importance of considering safety, both for herself and for the people she photographs, and she shares some creative strategies that she has used to protect people’s identities. Smita describes how she makes decisions about what information to reveal about a person, and what information to withhold, and how she takes time to ensure that she has informed consent from the people she photographs.

What you’ll find inside:

“I did not start asking them: how were you raped? I think that’s really wrong and very insensitive. It takes time to work on something sensitive and something which is so difficult, and you don’t want to re-victimise them by asking them difficult questions.” (6:00)

A technique for ensuring confidentiality (8:40)

A description fo informed consent (16:35)

“I think the person that we photograph, that person does us a favour by sharing their story. We are not doing a favour, they are doing a favour to us. So we have to respect that.” (22:30)

“I don’t think any experiences goes for a waste, even my work that I did as a journalist, I think it has come very handy even now because I know how to navigate through things, difficult things because I already had that kind of experience working as a correspondent.” (27:30)

“Don’t be in a hurry to get recognition, to get your work published. Because I see a lot of people they who want to take up work because it’s the hot topic. … I don’t know how invested can one be in something that you don’t really care about. At some point you are going to get bored of it. So I think you should only invest your energy into something that you really like, that you really care about. And then you should follow it.” (32:40)

What does photo ethics mean to Smita?

“I think photojournalism cannot sustain itself without having ethics as a backbone. And I call it a backbone because you cannot create things which are not real, you cannot distort facts, you cannot stage scenes, you cannot do that.” (35:15)

Links:

Ethics and Integrity in Visual Research Methods

Not My Shame

Sexual Slavery in Central African Republic for Human Rights Watch

Stolen Lives: The harrowing story of two girls sold into sexual slavery for National Geographic

Recording of Photography Ethics Symposium: On gender, power, and documenting vulnerability with Smita Sharma and Laura Saunders