#18 PROTEST PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE BURNING MONK
With protest as a theme understandably topping news agendas today, meet Adrian Arbib, who has made a career from photographing protests. It’s 57 years almost to the day that a monk, Thích Quảng Đức was photographed by an AP photographer immolating himself on a Saigon street surrounded by monks watching on in quiet meditative prayer. The photo is a universal symbol of rebellion and fight against injustice.
We talk about that day, the protest itself, how Malcolm Browne the photographer came to be there, the only Western photographer in attendance and the extraordinary way in which the picture was taken out of the country to newspapers around the world.
Today’s interview is the first of a two parter, with a photographer well versed in protest photography. Whether it’s joining tree protestors because you believe in their plight, or facing up to multi nationals flexing legal muscles to silence a story that doesn’t fit corporate PR agenda, Adrian Arbib, photojournalist, has spent decades researching, photographing and telling human rights stories; including time in Rwanda, the Horn of Africa, West Papua and India. Closer to home he’s spent time covering protests about the demolition of natural beauty spots and construction projects that carve through the countryside.
If you have any thoughts about the work of photographers like Adrian, please be sure to email the show: studio@photographydaily.show
All images copyright Adrian Arbib