Gabriela Bulisova presented her photojournalist images as part of the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Colloquium that featured a topic focusing on women and war. Bulisova’s work documents many women and how they have been affected by war, with most recently looking at refugees of Iraq that have helped the United States or were at odds with the rest of the country politically. Bulisova stated that she is not a war photographer and isn’t risking her life in the same way that some female photographers document amidst fire and that she was a self-conscious of being included in the colloquium until she expanded her definition of war and considered its reaching effects on people.
I have never taken a photography class before and I was fascinated to hear Bulisova talk about the experience of photographing and learning about the people that were in her photographs, as well as knowing how much of them could be shown (since many were in hiding). The stories told be Bulisova were riveting and the characters of each person were brought to light through her images as well as her anecdotes and memories of them. The issue of how much to show of a person was pertinent to me as I considered my second project in which I was filming myself and considering how much of my body, my self I was willing to expose to the camera.
Some of the last works that Bulisova presented were from a place in Washington DC called “Our Place” and it was an organization that helped women who had been recently released from jail, helping them return to normal lives. These works were presented with audio of the subject speaking, explaining their story. While this was different from Bulisova discussing her subjects, I found it to be a strong combination. It allowed the subject to speak for themselves and also captured me as a viewer.