The Wouri River Divers

NOTE: In the hours after publishing this post I found myself feeling perturbed. At first I couldn't pinpoint the cause of my unease and then I realized that it was to do with the whole premise of photographer Hugh Brown's project. Here was a comfortably-off white man traveling the world "capturing" images of people of color doing difficult and dangerous work in order to publish (and presumably profit to some degree from) a book documenting those he encountered. I found myself wondering: Why not use this privilege to give agency to the subjects of his images? Perhaps by providing them with cameras to document for themselves their lives and experiences? How different might these images look if the workers themselves were behind the camera?

No sooner had these thoughts and questions crossed my mind then I received a text message from a friend and follower of The Leveret: "The diver post strikes me as exploitation," my friend wrote. "White colonials ogling the sexy jungle men." I concurred with my friend and shared with him my own thoughts on the matter. "So are you taking the post down?' he asked. I responded by saying that, no, I did not intend taking the post down but that I would add this note. I acknowledged that it would probably not generate conversation, but that it would ensure that these images are out there coupled with a critique that may make people think about them in a way they might not have previously. The images themselves, I observed, are not totally without value and beauty.

"You're still promoting the [photographer's project and forthcoming] book," my friend responded; to which I replied: True, but people may now think twice about buying it (and other products like it) whereas they may not have before.

I welcome my readers thoughts on both the images shared in this post and the thoughts shared in this note.

_______________________________

Writes Adaobi Onyeakagbu . . .

Australian photographer Hugh Brown has captured a group of men working as artisanal miners in and along the Wouri River in Cameroon.

In his search to capture images of men and women working in some of the most remote and dangerous work environments, Brown found the subsistence miners fetching wet sand from the river bed to be transported up the river and sold for construction purposes. The men are not officially employed by any company, but work independently.

The divers risk their lives daily to make a living out of jumping to the river bottom at least 100 times per shift. They use 3 kilogram steel buckets with holes punched in the bottom that aids in the collection of the sand. [It's work that gives them] incredibly muscular physiques.

Hugh aims to make these artisanal miners the subject of a major photo art book and will also be the subject of a major feature documentary film.

Related Off-site Links:
Cameroon's Muscle-bound Miners: Photos Show the Incredible Sculpted Physique of Workers Who Dive 20ft to Collect Tonnes of Sand From the River Bed – Terri-Ann Williams (Daily Mail, January 17, 2019).
Amazing Pictures Show African Miners Risking Death Diving Incredible Depths for Sand – Dominic Smithers (LadBible.com, January 17, 2019).
Artisanal Mining Is One of the Few Ways Africans Directly Benefit From Natural Resources – Lynsey Chutel (Quartz, July 27, 2018).

Images: Hugh Brown.