Monday, March 6, 2017
Kairos in the Pictures
These pictures presented to us by Alan Taylor are an embodiment of kairos. The Civil Rights Act was signed in 1964, but segregation and racism still persisted for quite a while. And it was these build up of events that allowed these collection of pictures to be so powerful. For example, starting with picture #1, a woman is carried roughly by police to a van. This is only effective because it was a common thing of the time period, and it sparked a lot of resentment within the black community. Moving on, we see a picture of Martin Luther King Jr. and civil right leaders talking with president Lyndon B. Johnson. Now out of context, this means nothings; after all, it is just a couple of guys chatting. But with the events going on at the time, people look at their conversation as progression and ascension to greater societal equality. Furthermore, we look at picture #13 and see white youths protesting for black civil rights. Once again, this picture is built upon and given meaning through kairos. Every single one of these pictures has elements of kairos, and every single picture combined utilize kairos, which shows how it is an essential element of this collection.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The picture with the man being carried is eerily similar to some police incidents that happen even today. The kairos of these pictures are still effective since the issue is still present.
ReplyDeleteKairos is what ultimately bubbles the movement over. The sight of these horrifying pictures sparked an anger within the African American community. Finding something powerful enough to fuel a movement is difficult to do. However, because of the timing of these pictures, they were successful in doing so.
ReplyDeleteLike you mention the reason these images are so important has to do with the timing and background that these images have. Without context these images are just glimpses into a moment of time. With a knowledge of the kairos individuals are able to connect the picture to the events in history and therefore are able to gain a clearer understanding of how individuals were influenced by discrimination at this time.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the Kairos was definitely the situation that black people were facing. They were dealing with racism and police brutality, so the publisher of this photograph probably wanted the general public to see with their own eyes how unfairly black people were treated.
ReplyDelete