The third edition of Xposure International Photography Festival opened its doors on Wednesday, November 21, at Expo Centre Sharjah, providing a chance for visitors to see some of the most celebrated photographers showcase and discuss some of their most recent works.
On Thursday, November 22, American artist and environmental activist J Henry Fair took to the stage for his talk entitled Art and Propaganda.
Fair’s photography is as bold and powerful as the messages behind each image, with its beauty in message quickly dissipating to reveal an ugly truth in reality.
Fair called on the media to play a better role in informing the public when it comes to the environment. "The media tends to play a major role in the destruction of the environment and climate change that affects the entire world,” he said, adding that by focusing on one positive point, they often miss reporting on several others that could have catastrophic effects on the environment.
Germany, for example, continues to burn large quantities of coal to generate electricity, Fair explained. While the media is correct to report that this industry provides employment for a good number of people – an increasingly important factor considering today’s challeging economic climate – seldom is anything reported about the disastrous effect this process is having on the environment, the costs of which could be huge.
Through his work, Fair showcases a reality that the media are not always willing to portray, by providing a more ‘informed’ platform from which people can make decisions about how they live their life and learn how individual actions – including how we travel, the food we eat and the clothes we buy – can all have a negative impact on the world in which we live. Fair hopes more people will not only become more educated about the environment, but more responsible too.
Fair’s The Hidden Costs exhibition is currently on display at Xposure. A collection of photographs showcasing the detritus of our consumer economy, it highlights the unaccounted costs taken from our life support systems for private gain.
