Reflections on photographing Madagascar
From 2017 to 2019 I lived in Madagascar as a member of the Peace Corps. What began as an attempt to simply record the people and places around me turned into an act of meditation. My camera became a crucial tool that helped me connect with people and distill my complex environment into images that filled me and my subjects with pride. The experience made me reconsider the role of the photographer. How could I be both a part of the community and also separate, removed? How could I make sense of the remarkable detail and diversity all around me?
My photos convey a paradoxical sense of intimacy and distance, which I think is a manifestation of my feelings towards Madagascar. I sought intimacy in my photos as a way of seeking intimacy and honesty with the Malagasy people. As an observer, I learned to relinquish control. Instead of trying to change the world —prodding it, squeezing it, stretching it –I preferred to simply fit it into my frame.
I tried to capture the depth and diversity of Malagasy culture by photographing in natural light and using mostly “normal” lenses, capturing people in their environments with minimal distortion or manipulation. I like a normal focal length, as opposed to extreme wide angle, because it forces me to be intentional and decisive about what fits into my frame. Amidst infinite possibilities, I must pick a small scene to focus on, a part that represents the whole. This conscious attention to composition allows my images to express my unconscious feelings about Madagascar.
My most rewarding shots are portraits that convey comfort from the subject or subjects. That comfort is necessary before they can express pride, which tells the viewer who they really are. I tried to understand both the external reality of my subjects’ lives, as well as the motivations that drive them and give their lives meaning.
The subjects of my photographs were often much more than subjects to me, however. Pictured in some of the images on this site are close friends of mine and members of my community with whom I formed intimate relationships over the course of multiple years. For this reason, and because of my deep immersion into the Malagasy culture, customs, and language, the pictures here in Madagallery have profound personal meaning to me.
Today, I worry that true depth and meaning are often lost in the visual noise we create and consume. I am always asking: what makes an image worth looking at? My answer is found in photography that is straightforward, unmanipulated, curious, and honest. Thank you for taking a look through my lens.
-Sam Feibel