The End Times
Exhibition was a collection of art by photographer Jill Greenberg in 2006, to show
her frustration with the political state of America at the time.
[Faith]
Back when these photos were released, it caused quite a
controversy between many different types of people, including not only artists
and child advocates but also ordinary parents. Greenberg was, and still is,
sent many complaints and abusive messages saying that she is “a sick woman” and
that she “should be arrested and charged with child abuse.” The way Greenberg
captured the pictures creating the exaggerated emotion shown in the images has
caused this to be a most controversial topic in today’s society.
[Shock Tessa]
To get a background on the images shown, Greenberg hired
professional models, and asked her friends for help, as well as including her
own children. Thirty-five young children, all under the age of 5 were
photographed. Greenberg, with the help the parents of the children, gave a
lollipop or a toy to the children. However, it was not abuse, or torture that
created this emotional distress in the children. All that Greenberg did was ask
for the item back and the children reacted in the ways that are depicted in these
photographs.
[Left Behind]
It astounds me that some people could call Greenberg a child
abuser or torturer as she did not do anything to these children. Some might say
that she was exploitative in her cause of getting these pictures, but this reaction
is no different for telling a child off for doing something naughty, or the
child having a tantrum for no reason. The reason why the children reacted in
the way that they did is because they have not developed enough to realise what
was happening. Once they had been given the lollipop or toy, they think that it
is theirs forever; they did not know what to do once Greenberg or the other
parents asked for it back. Children cry all the time because they are not able
to understand the world around them. These photographs are no different to real
life. The way they were created has merely captured and emphasised this
emotion.
[Unless]
The way Greenberg depicts the photographs, the large size,
and the heroic way the children look are more than likely the reason there has
been such an outrage from the public about these. Had the child been in a
public place crying, most of these people would have ignored any of these
children. This is because crying in children at a young age is normal. But due
to the photographs being very “in-your-face” it has created this controversy,
with the public thinking that Greenberg has abused the children in her
photographs. You can see in these pictures that they are very powerful and her
use of titles for each one works well with what she was trying to depict, which
was the terrible way Bush was handling the government in his era. Although,
this point about the art seems to evade most people as they see the crying
children and then get up in arms about the child abuse that Greenberg must have
caused to create these photographs.
[G.O.P.]
Another reason causing this storm about
the exhibition is simply because they were young children. Most of the people
sending Greenberg hate mail would not be reacting the way they did if the
children in the photos were instead teenagers, or even adults. They would not
care due to the fact that it is not young children anymore, and that other age groups
should “toughen up”. However, all the abusive messages to Greenberg are about
how she abused the children. The problem here however, is that Greenberg did
nothing to the children. It was mostly the parents who took the lollipop or the
toy away.
Abuse is defined as to “treat something, or someone, with
cruelty or violence, especially regularly or repeatedly.” This is nothing like
what Greenberg did to these children. She gave the child a lollipop or toy, had
their parent ask for it back, and then took a picture of the reaction. This is
not nearly classified as abuse. The children only suffered once, and for a
short period of time while she took the photographs. This could be argued as
exploitative, but there are far worse cases of child exploitation than this. This
was merely a creation of Greenberg to state her frustration with the Bush
government. I personally do not believe this intended to create harm the
children. Greenberg created it for one sole purpose, and that was completely
ignored and the pictures were frowned upon by some sections of today’s society.
[Apocalypse Now]
All in all, the children were not abused, or tortured, or
the other negative words that have been applied to Jill Greenberg and they are
not necessary. Whatever you think, you cannot possibly say that this was abuse.
The children merely could not comprehend what was going on when they were asked
for their lollipop or toy back, which, happened to be by the parents, and not
Greenberg. The photos make the children look heroic and emphasise the emotions
that are being shown which has caused the general uproar towards End Times and Greenberg. People should
look behind what they are seeing and see what the artist is actually trying to
get across instead of getting angry at the images.
Stage 2 English Communications
