The Beach, the Sea, the Fence: Spain’s Necro-Frontier and Humanitarian Photography

Abstract

The maritime border separating Europe from Africa has become the backdrop for a photojournalism that bears witness to the suffering and death of thousands of migrants since the early 1980s. The beach, the sea, and the fence are the specific sites where such a humanitarian crisis has been photographed. Taking the work of some of those committed photographers as its object of study and drawing mainly from the writings of Susan Sontag, Ariella Azoulay, and Emmanuel Levinas, this essay evaluates the possibility of studying photographic images of the humanitarian crisis at the so-called gates of Europe to reframe established theories of the relation between spectatorship, ethics, and otherness.

Keywords:

• Photojournalism
• borders
• migration
• humanitarianism
• Mediterranean Sea
• ethics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)

Notes

1 The photojournalist Santi Palacios serves as a prime example of today’s complex and diverse dissemination of humanitarian photography—complexity and diversity that, of course, have the potential to influence the reception and analysis of the images he produces. He has worked as a freelancer but also for press agencies, contributing to major magazines and newspapers, as well as collaborating with NGOs. Palacios has received prestigious awards, exhibited his work on multiple occasions, and had his photographs published in book format. Furthermore, his images circulate online through various platforms, starting with his webpage and Instagram account.

2 For NGO involvement in photojournalism and the representation of humanitarian crisis, see Dencik and Allan (2017).

3 For a critique of Levinas’ conceptualization of transcendence, see especially Eisenstadt and Katz (2016).

4 Bertillon, the inventor of the “mugshot,” insisted on consistent lighting, a standard focal length, and a fixed distance between camera and subject. See Sekula (1986).

5 Medical discussions regarding PTSD consider these visible signs of introversion and withdrawal. The fact that unpleasant memories return to haunt the patient is offered as an explanation for the momentary loss of focus.

6 José Palazón’s viral 2014 picture of a group of migrants perched on top of the section of the fence contiguous to a golf course on the Spanish side became an iconic image in that respect and a precedent of note to Palacio’s photographs.

7 The references here are Aldekoa and Photo (2017) and Fergo (2019).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Juan F. Egea

Juan F. Egea is a Professor of Contemporary Spanish Literature and Culture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of La poesía del nosotros: Jaime Gil de Biedma y la secuencia lírica moderna (Visor, 2004), Dark Laughter: Spanish Film, Comedy and the Nation (UW-Press, 2013) and Filmspanism: A Critical Companion to the Study of Spanish Film (Routledge, 2020). He is currently working on a book-length project on crisis and visuality in contemporary Spain.