Review

A review of Don Doll, S.J.'s Voice for the Voiceless

Don Doll, S.J., "Lwena, Angola," photograph, 1997. Augusto Chimuna is shown with his daughter in front of the tent he and his family have lived in for four years. They are classified as Internally Displaced Persons. Image: courtesy of the artist

Greenlease Gallery
Kansas City, MO
February 5 – March 27, 2010

The Greenlease Gallery at Rockhurst University is celebrating the university’s centennial anniversary with the Rev. Don Doll, S.J.’s documentary photographs of Jesuit missions from around the world. The exhibition, Voice for the Voiceless, features both black and white and color photographs from his work with various cultures, and his time spent with the Jesuit Refugee Service. Fr. Doll is a Jesuit priest who teaches at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. He is also a well-known photographer whose work has been featured in National Geographic, and has won him numerous awards in photojournalism.

Voice for the Voiceless aims to display the setbacks and injustice of those whose daily struggles are deemed subsidiary. In relation to this approach, Doll says, “I photograph to tell the stories of the people who have no voice.” The exhibition is a survey of his career, and shows his time spent with the Lakota Sioux people in South Dakota, the Yupik Eskimos in Alaska, and other people receiving aid from the Jesuit Refugee Service.

Don Doll, S.J., "Guéréda, Chad," photograph, 2009. Image: courtesy of the artist

From the first steps into the Greenlease Gallery, viewers can see that Doll excels in portraiture. He captures the character of the person or people in a way that draws every ounce of compassion out of the viewer. And unlike most other journalistically driven photographers, Doll seeks empathy, not sympathy; identity, not pity. The opening sequence of black and white photographs of the Sioux people and Yupik Eskimos opens the viewer to the anthropological tone of Voice for the Voiceless.

As one progresses through the exhibition, color photos of Doll’s time spent photographing people receiving support from the Jesuit Refugee Service transition the tone to convey his humanitarian aspirations. These portraits no longer show characters in peaceful, day-to-day scenery.  These are people who stumbled across land mines while playing soccer in Bosnia, were abducted by guerilla warriors and horribly mutilated in Uganda, or were staring death directly in the face in India. These photos pull at the viewers’ sentiments and can leave even the most emotionally reserved of viewers gutted. These aren’t the scenes that one sees on late-night infomercials asking for aid in third-world countries; these pictures have personality and defining characteristics of people tackling destitution. These photos aren’t begging for money; they are begging for realization and genuine concern.

Doll plays delicately with the idea of contrast. For every scene of utter despair, the exhibition provides an antithesis of optimism. A picture of African peoples who are short on food and water is paired next to a photo of African children in a school setting, seemingly eager to learn. Much of Voice for the Voiceless is filled with death, mourning, struggle, war, and poverty. Yet there is also rebuilding, community, education, advancement, and hope — the hope that any person, confronted with what others are going through, will stop living in ignorance, and take steps to ignite true change.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Updating...