A human with a camera
Photo: Pearson Ripley, a Ryerson MFA candidate, is a recipient of Nikonās 100th Anniversary Storytellerās Scholarship.
When asked where he sees his art evolving, , a documentary media student, disputes the premise: āItās funny, I still »å“Ē²Ōāt see myself as an āartist,ā to be honest,ā he says. āThereās a blurry line between documentary, art, and photography. I »å“Ē²Ōāt really have a label for myself, to be honest. I »å“Ē²Ōāt really feel like an artist, though.ā
How would he define himself? āI »å“Ē²Ōāt knowā¦ human with a camera?ā he offers. āI see the camera as an avenue to explore the things that Iām concerned or intrigued by.ā
Through his art, photography, documentary media, or whatever you want to call it, Ripley has sensitively documented people and places overlooked by the mainstreamāin Cuba, Nepal, Cambodia, and the United States. Ripley is currently based in Toronto, where he says of the documentary media MFA program, āIāve got great professors, and Iāve got a fantastic cohort, and itās very inspiring. A program is what you make it, and itās just got me completely reconsidering how I make pictures. Itās got me thinking more critically about my creative decisions, and being more deliberate about those decisions.ā
This year, he is a recipient of Nikonās , which awards $10,000 USD in academic funding to 10 visual storytellers form across North America. āIāll get to jump into my practice after schoolāI wonāt have to be 100 percent focused on taking care of loans,ā he says.
We asked Ripley to tell us about some of his favourite photos, and the stories behind themā¦
Look, Bijuwar, Nepal
The first two images are part of a larger project on vision in southeast Asia, and document a queue at an eye clinic in Nepal of people with preventable blindness. āEssentially, they are people with cataracts or severe visual impairments. They just really need a pair of glasses, but so severe that they canāt function normally,ā says Ripley. āThe operating room was down on the first level, and I was up in the processing and administrative area a level up, where there was a balcony. I had just been up there talking to a couple of nurses that were working at the clinic, and I looked down and saw the queue. She heard us talking, and looked up.ā
Queue, Bijuwar, Nepal
āI always try to interact with anyone I take a picture of,ā says Ripley. āIf youāre trying to get a candid image, you can obviously snap something without anybody knowing youāre there. But Iād rather meet people and engage, and then, theyāre comfortable with your presence.ā
Drop, Kampot, Cambodia
A young boy in Cambodia is treated for a cataract in his eyeāattained after a stick he threw at a tree rebounded, hitting him in the face. āHe had just been let out,ā says Ripley. āHe had to stay overnight with the bandage on, and then in the morning we were all there pretty early for the patients being released. He came out and met his parents, and then the doctor was demonstrating to his parents how to apply the medicine to his eye. I was standing right next to him and grabbed that shot.ā
Length, Santiago AtitlƔn, Guatemala
The next two images came when Ripley met a family of traditional Mayan wool-weavers while travelling through Guatemala. āHis name is Diego, and heās holding a stretch of fabric made on a loom and explaining the symbolism. āHeās one of five or six children in the family, and heās a very vibrant, outgoing individual. His whole family is involved in this workshop.ā
Backstrap, Santiago AtitlƔn, Guatemala
Juanita, age 13, is Diegoās younger sister, though her body language carries the weight of professionalism and experience. āShe is working on a backstrap, which is very oldāitās pre-Colombian weaving technology. Itās still used for many of the articles of clothing, especially the top. Itās very laborious and difficult, takes a lot of training, and produces very strong, sturdy fabrics.ā
Sanctuary, USA
For his current project, Ripley is documenting the lives of undocumented migrants in the United States who seek sanctuary in churchesāincluding this man in North Carolina. āICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has an internal policyāitās not a lawāthat they »å“Ē²Ōāt execute deportation orders or carry out raids at what they call āsensitive locations,ā which include houses of worship, schools, this type of thing.ā
In such a difficult situation, how does Ripley cultivate trust with his subjects? By being more concerned with the relationships than the images. āI come and say what Iām doing. I say, āIām not with the media, I »å“Ē²Ōāt have any power over this situation whatsoever. Hereās what Iām doing, and if youāre interested in participating, that would be great.ā
āThe first few times I go there, I »å“Ē²Ōāt even bring my camera. I just go and speak with people, hear their stories, have meals with them, spend the night at the churches, and eventually take the camera out. I just try to constantly be engagedāI try to be a human with a camera, not a photographer.ā