After walking through “The person in front of you: Photographs from West Africa” I really feel the sense of isolation and poverty David Pace and Kathy Knowles must have felt in Bereba. For me all the pictures showed a sense of disparity that was contrasted by the opulent display of color, design, culture and complacency.

Two pictures stood out as being particularly interesting for me, but for different reasons. The first picture which incidentally is my favorite, I feel says a lot about the society and economic position many of the West African states are in. It was the picture of the young teenage boy standing behind a makeshift bar holding a small shot glass. From the picture and the boys position in it, it is apparent that he is the bar tender. What I first noticed was his age, which I noted was most likely under 15. In western culture this would seem outrageous and may even be illegal, but in a country swamped with poverty and very slack government laws and rules it isn’t uncommon for young children to take what we consider “adult jobs” to be able to bring more food to their families table. Next I realized how well the liquor cabinet was stocked, many new unopened bottles. This was in stark contrast to the bar itself, showing the hierarchy of needs and priorities to be centered around only the liquor. Another sign of economic struggle was the apparent girls clothing the young boy was wearing. In a time and place where food on your plate is your soul priority, the floral patterns and pink embroidery on a hand me down shirt is insignificant and trivial. It is these deepening contrasting fragments that made this picture so fascinating to me.

On the other hand the one picture that really did nothing for me was a picture of a young girl blowing a bubble with some bubblegum. The close of her face is framed by an orange wall with a few shadows. To me it shows nothing about the society or town, and the bubble covers the girls face so we can’t even tell anything about her. I get no sense of meaning from this shot as its simplicity restrains the potential significance of the shot. But it may be this simplicity and lack of disparity that give us a strong contrast to what may be going on around the little girl. To the girl the only thing that matters at that moment is her bubble gum, and it may be this innocence and contentment that shows the last hope for a safer West Africa.