Some Aspects of Aesthetic Creativity in Journalistic Photography

Abstract

An essay using the example of the anti-capitalist protests in Genoa in 2001 to examine how the European mass media represent political protest. Few people are familiar with the political context within which these protests took place, and the limitations of the photojournalism covering the events visually reduced a cluster of very different ideological groups addressing a great variety of issues to images of violence. The proliferation of a photograph of a protester who was shot dead by the police during the demonstrations raises the question of whether shock, fear, or even sympathy for the person depicted can be transmitted into thought, critique, and understanding not only of the events in Genoa and the anti-capitalist movement, but of contemporary politics as well. This article argues that mainstream accounts of the events prevent the possibility of the protester's death being read as anything other than the inevitable result of the violent actions of the protesters themselves.