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SXSW LONDON: MISAN HARRIMAN AND DR KEITH MAGEE DISCUSS BOLD NEW DOCUMENTARY SHOOT THE PEOPLE
Following the sold-out World Premiere of docu-film Shoot The People, renowned photographer and social activist Misan Harriman was joined by academic and social justice academic and head of the Guardian Trust Reverend Professor Keith Magee to discuss the film at SXSW London
Magee described how “Shoot the People is more than a film; it’s a visual intervention. A reminder that even in the darkest times there are those who dare to see and to make sure that it’s received. Shoot the People is not a documentary. It’s a spiritual provocation”
“You’ve (Misan) chronicled history in a way that challenges power. You’re not just a photographer of celebrities and headlines, you capture movements as a memory in the film and the soul of our times”
When speaking about his approach to photographing protests as a tool for social justice and the responsibility he feels around capturing the moment, Misan said, “Art for me, has never been about entertainment, but survival”
“In summer of 2020, after I saw somebody who looked like us, George Floyd, lying in a pool of his own piss, still calling the men that were killing him “Sir,” whilst asking for his mother. I had run out of tears and had to look into the camera. I didn’t necessarily know what I would observe in the streets of London, but I quickly realised that I was shooting my own trauma”
“There’s a different duty of care when you look into the eyes of the men and women that are fighting to forge a world that you deserve to inherit, and you see yourself. And I think that’s why those images are very hard to defend yourself against”
Misan’s photographs have not only gone viral but also influenced conversations around race and representation. When asked about the role he thinks art plays in shifting public consciousness, he said he’s realised, “the thing about white supremacy is that it doesn’t always allow even the righteous to be able to do the right thing”
“But the soft power of art is that it can enter every room. Every soccer mom, every workman can look at an image and see a mirror of themselves. Then they have a choice to decide whether they’re going to be apathetic and enjoy the privilege of their inheritance or to build a future of shared humanity for all. And that’s what I think the art is able to do”
Behind the lens, Misan is responsible for who is seen and how they’re seen. When speaking of the decisions made when directing what is remembered, he describes his camera as “his sword and shield,” and references the thought of his two daughters becoming young women in the world as it is today
“I believe women should have a right to control their own bodies. I believe that Mother Nature has been telling us for generations that the wound is too big to bear. I believe black and brown babies deserve to grow old, they’re just the basics”
Whilst only picking up a camera seven years ago, Misan believes that “the community is growing every day of like-minded people from all races, all religions that think that the many men that sit next to the leaders of power that have failed upwards are not going to save us. We are the change that we are looking for. And, hopefully, my art will help you understand that your whisper is actually a word”
When talking about capturing protests of trauma and black resilience, he reflects on previous moments in history and said, “I’m not going to let some photography company or editor that has no understanding of one’s lived experience go and tell the world what this woman’s going through. So, that’s a duty of care that I’m having. And what I love about it is that when people go to my page, it helps them go on a journey of de-colonising their mind”
Misan spoke frankly about why films like Shoot The People are needed, and his beliefs that some mainstream news outlets are failing in their duty to reveal the truth behind the struggles he captures in the film. “A Palestinian mother just last week had nine of her children killed. Nine. And most recently her husband passed away, and that being barely reported in the news media is unacceptable to me. As a Nigerian, my father was born into an occupied Nigeria. They used fancy words like Commonwealth – that gets handed down into your bones – but you should see a thing for what it is
“If you want to hold a camera or a pen or a microphone for vibes or clout, or your wallet, I don’t think you’re making art. In my images, I give pieces of my soul, and when I look at some of the images I’ve taken I sometimes can’t even stand up, I see so many of the parts of myself that sometimes I’ve been ashamed of that I am now proud of in the art that I give to the world
“If you’re not prepared to go on that journey, maybe you should just go find a place that is just vibes. But if it is just that, you’re just riding culture as we gallop into oblivion. I think of this amazing silence, it isn’t just for the Palestinians, but to what’s happening to the icecaps, silence towards the children in the Congo – genuinely, the biggest potential loss of life on the planet is in Sudan. It’s not good enough”
When talking about work that reached a global audience, Misan states, “It’s important for those that have a platform to have complete moral clarity about what’s right and what’s wrong. We have to stop wrapping black culture around imperialism and hyper-capitalism that constantly reduces. It’s very hard to be a revolutionary when you’re earning $50 million dollars a year
Misan is hopeful that future generations can build a better world, stating how “greed may actually help force change as consumers want brands to stand for something, and when they realise that they can thrive while showing morality, change can come”
