HUNGER AND RESILIENCE

HUNGER AND RESILIENCE

One of the more memorable events during my visit to the United States this time was a visit to the History Museum at Saint Louis. Though the museum itself is not very big, what made it eventful as I would call it, was  an exhibition of photographs by Michael Nye and the subject of his photography was ‘Hunger and Resilience’. Michael Nye lives in downtown San Antonio and practiced law for 10 years before pursuing photography full time.

As I walked into the exhibition, a dimly lit gallery, with spotlights on each of the fifty portraits there, greeted me. To each portrait was attached a headphone. I saw people, some sitting on the seats in the middle of the hall gazing at the photographs, while there were others standing in front of the portraits with the headphones on. All of them seemed to have been transported to another world, from the contemplative looks on their faces. A sombre mood prevailed in the entire room. No one talked. I walked around looking at the photographs and was struck by the intensity of the faces captured. I never really knew what was going on in those headphones, till I decided to try one of them. I stood in front of one particular portrait for it had caught my attention as soon as I had entered. I am reproducing here the photo of the photographs taken by me. As I put on the headphones and listened, I was immediately struck by the deep voice that narrated the story of Mathew and his struggle to overcome the pangs of hunger and the lessons he had learnt in his fight for survival. The voice was of Mathew himself.

For nearly five years, Michael Nye has been listening and asking questions about hunger. Why does it happen? What can we learn from them? The fifty portraits and audio stories reveal the courage and fragility of those individuals who have experienced hunger. These voices and images draw you closer into their lives. Each face, each voice invites you to listen. Nye doesn't reveal their full names to preserve their anonymity.

What still sticks to my mind, after Mathew’s narration as to how he had gone hungry for days on end and how he had to struggle to overcome it and the lessons he had learnt in the process, was one statement of his “Humour can come out only out of Humility”. When you look at the photograph, you see those piercing eyes as if they are boring through your head. There is so much intensity, so much passion to live, that you are humbled by the resilience of the human spirit. I spoke of Mathew because that was the first photograph I looked at. There were others equally intense each with his or her own story. I did go through some others also but the time was short as each audio runs for about five minutes. But it was enough to give me a glimpse of the work that Nye has done. I did plan to go there again but did not have the time as I was to leave back home to India the same week.

It is only when one is passionate about something does one create great works. What Nye has done through his exhibition is to reiterate the indomitable nature of the human spirit. Tragedy need not break it as we can see and hear the transformative process that each of those individuals has undergone. This exhibition is about the experience of hunger and the desire to live.

In Michael Nye’s own words “Listening is another way of seeing. It has been a privilege to have these passionate conversations. It has changed me. I tried to honour each story by being faithful to its spirit and the way it was spoken. Hunger is an issue of human rights. Everyone has the right to be heard, to be listened to, and to receive help when hungry. Once you start listening, you find that it's really about ourselves," Nye says. "That it's not about those people, but it's about humanity."

Kathy, a homeless mother, in her recording at the exhibition says, "How do you explain to a 2-year-old or 4-year-old there's nothing to eat? All they know is that they're hungry. And the pain in their stomach. And you try to sit there and say, 'Honey, I'm sorry. I don't have anything to cook you. I don't have nothing to give you. I have nothing.”

There are many other such stories narrated as one moves from portrait to portrait. But what was most striking was the intensity in the eyes of all the subjects. I could not detect a shade of self pity on their faces, even though while hearing the audio one could detect the agony that they had undergone, in their voices. Some were born hungry, some had experienced hunger at some point in their lives, but they had come through it all.

What is it to experience hunger?