Attending the Jill Freedman and Debi Cornwall exhibit at the Steve Kashner Gallery was a touching experience. Unbelievable how a picture can say what a million words cannot. Resurrection City is an exemplary example of why art is important especially in times of hardship.

If Freedman would have never photographed the poor people’s campaign this moment would have been ignored and forgotten because it affects marginalized people. I also admire Freedman’s spontaneity. Deciding to quit one’s job to pursue photographing protests and demonstrations is a difficult choice yet demonstrates Freedman’s priorities.

Being able to put others before you is a commendable trait. Although the poor people’s campaign wasn’t entirely successful the photographs Freedman took helped make positive strides towards reform. Her photography was featured in LIFE magazine resulting and people finding out about the movement.

This is one of my favorite pictures from Resurrection City because it shows that you can have happiness without money.

Debi Cornwall’s photography was equally as powerful. Her photography depicted the differences between working and being detained at Guantanamo Bay. The United States military personnel working there described Guantanamo as a paradise full of beaches, bowling alleys, and cute gift shops.

However, the detained were there without trial and conviction and would be detained for years upon end.

Here we see a book made by Cornwall providing insight on people who were detained and how they were detained. Truly saddening

I found her book to be the most interesting part of her collection. The contracts with redacted statements caught my eye because I was curious as to what the government was hiding from us. This exactly what Cornwall wanted, she left her job as a lawyer to become a photographer who made people question their surroundings. According to the article about her in NY Times titled “In Guantanamo, Ensnared in the war on terror” she stated that “as an artist, I’m compiling these seemingly disparate materials to provoke questions,”. Her artwork was successful in doing this from my perspective because I began questioning the war on terror and if innocent people are being held without trial for no reason why is Guantanamo still open? It is a clear human rights violation.