Salgado captures our attention once again from a photo on page 100 in his book Migrations. This photo shows a woman and her child holding up pictures of their husband and father. Before this photo was taken this was a happy family, with a father at the head of the household. Then on July 31, 1983 all of this changed when Iraqi troops arrived in their village and took away every husband and father. The families of these men had no idea where they took them. They had no idea if they would be returning, why they took them, or even if they were still alive. The only thing that they have now is hope. According to Muslim law they cannot remarry, so now they just continue their lives. They continue their lives with such a huge piece missing from their lives.
When I looked at this picture it reminded me of hope. It made me think that as terrible as this incident was, they still had hope in these men. This hope could range from hoping that these men were still alive, to hoping that they would see them again in the next life. I also was reminded of remembrance. I believe that both hope and remembrance are related. When we hope for something then we never forget it. The memory is always with us, giving us light that tomorrow will be better than today. I believe this mother and daughter are remembering their husband/father by keeping hope. This hope is represented through photos or memories. It is hope that they will one day (in this life or the next) feel a warm embrace from husband/father again.
Works Cited:Salgado, Sebastião, and Lélia Wanick. Salgado. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. New York: Aperture, 2000. 100-101 Print.
Salgado, Sebastião, and Lélia Wanick. Salgado. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. (Pamphlet) New York: Aperture, 2000. 7 Print.
Wow, that was so great. It was really interesting to read about what happened, but it was really sad to learn about that, too. It must be so hard for them to have to live with the knowledge that they really don't know what happened. I know I have a hard enough time not knowing something trivial for even a short period of time, so I don't think I could ever really imagine what it would be like for those poor women to have no idea what had happened or what might still happen. They could just be waiting, for years and years.
ReplyDeleteI did really enjoy your connection between hope and remembrance. That's so true that they are tied together, and you can never really have hope if you don't remember what you're hoping for. It's so important to have something, like those pictures, that can keep your hope alive.
Hope and remembrance are powerful things. In a sense, they make up who we are, because they are what we think about all the time. Everything we keep in our minds works itself into our words and actions if we wait long enough. And the things we hope for give meaning to life. The women in this picture have hope for all kinds of things, and in the end that hope keeps them alive.
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