often go back to their homes trying to find documents, like
ANDREA: Would that be the same thing as a conflict
their insurance. It depends on the amount of time you have
photographer?
to flee and leave.
GIDEON: Not really. Conflict photographers photograph…
ANDREA: You have been described as a “struggle pho-
conflict. With struggle photography, you were photo-
tographer”, how do you feel about this title that has been
graphing a certain political struggle and identifying with
bestowed upon you and your work?
it. In Africa in the 1980’s it was a young generation of
photographers whose work was kind of instrumental in
GIDEON: That term is very old. It’s dated back to my
the fight against apartheid. If you look at the series on my
time in South Africa in the 1980’s where I was working
website in South Africa called The Struggle, you can see
with a young generation of struggle photographers.
some of the images made in that time. Ironically, another
Gideon Mendel, João Pereira de Araújo, Taquari Districta, Rio Branco, Brazil, March 2015.
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