Picturing love, care, enthusiastic consent
Photographer Jeff Bierk nourishes collaboration in his portraiture at Moss Park
Meet the most charismatic man in the world. This beautiful, blue-haired man is Jimmy James Evans, and that phrase is how photographer Jeff Bierk aptly described him in a recent blog interview with fellow photographer Ian Willms.
Jeff has been photographing his friend Jimmy for the past decade or so, and they made this image, above, together at the end of July in the thick heat of summer. They have a spot they call Stonehenge near Jimmy’s place, and they often go there to hang out and talk and make photographs.
I met Jeff last year when we were on a photography panel together, discussing issues of representation and working from being an insider/outsider with communities for an audience of OCADU photo students.
That panel was really about questions of ethics and exploitation, and ever since he started photographing Jimmy and their close group of friends, Jeff’s photography has been answering these questions head-on.
It’s important to him. In every exhibition, interview and artist talk he’s given since 2012, Jeff has spoken at length about the way he works, engaging in a process he has dubbed “collaborative portraiture” as he photographs friends and acquaintances whose lives have been affected by poverty, addiction and mental health challenges.
This approach involves talking with the people he photographs about how each photograph is made, who gets to see it and how it will be used — he also splits any fees or sales profits 50/50 with them. At the heart of this process is getting what he calls “ongoing, enthusiastic consent” from everyone whom he photographs.
It’s a powerful and useful example for other photographers who have been grappling with these ethical issues in one way or another for as long as photography has been around. Although there are some codes and guidelines, there is also a high degree of subjectivity involved with deciding what’s OK and what’s not when you’re photographing another person.
This can often lead to disagreement, which happened this summer over a new Photo Bill of Rights. Launched by a group of photography collectives to address systemic issues facing all lensbased media workers, the bill offers a set of guidelines designed to build a healthier and more equitable industry.
Spurred by the inequities highlighted by the pandemic and the uprising against anti-Black racism, the online document has largely seen tremendous uptake, with almost 2,500 individuals and 50 organizations signing on.
Though few people seem perturbed by the bill’s calls to action on issues of health, financial respect, documenting abuse and inclusion, the framework in the accompanying tool kit around the principle of “informed consent” has ruffled some shutters.
Most notably, well-known American photographer David Burnett wrote an open letter to the National Press Photographers Association objecting to the idea of seeking consent before photographing someone in public, given that “for ages there has been no expectation of privacy.”
It’s a blunt argument, but it’s unfortunately true. Many photographers have long defended the ability to photograph people in public spaces as a right, a position bolstered by the fact that we generally have no legal right to privacy in public in many countries including Canada. But just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s ethical.
Consent was already a hot topic of discussion when the bill dropped — concerns were increasingly being raised over police in the U.S. using publicly available photographs and facial recognition software to target activists and protesters.
Closer to home, amidst the conversation about the establishment of tent encampments in local parks, the issue came up again in a BlogTO article. “Stop taking pictures of people and their tents,” was the number one request from the spokesperson at Encampment Support Network Toronto (ESN), some of the folks who have been on the front lines every day. They continued: “Ask for consent if you want to document someone’s life. If you feel uncomfortable asking for consent, then don’t do it.”
There’s your free photography ethics lesson: If we’re taking photographs of other people in public, then it’s clear we all need to be thinking about how our images might positively or negatively affect people’s lives, and how consent plays a significant role in affording agency and minimizing harm.
Jeff has been volunteering with ESN since May and doing daily outreach in Moss Park since June. You can see what his “ongoing, enthusiastic consent” looks like through the portraits he’s made and the stories he’s told on Instagram (@jeffari) over the past few months. Continuing the work he started with Jimmy and with Jimmy’s friends Yonas, Snow, Jen and Marcus, Jeff’s photographs reflect the relationships he’s developed and the trust and camaraderie between them. They still also do the important social justice work of drawing attention to the homelessness crisis in our city.
While this way of working is not realistic or possible for everyone, Jeff’s practice offers lessons for us all. He encourages us to confront the ways in which power is functioning throughout the photographic process, and to foreground beauty and humility and generosity. And if you ever get the chance to ask him, he will tell you to treat the people you are photographing the same way you would treat your mother, your lover, your friend: with the same kind of care and dignity. Consent is part of that care, and god knows, we are in more need of care than ever.
is Toronto’s photo laureate for the next three years. Each month, she takes a different photo and talks about why it’s important to the city and why you should take a look at it. Follow her on Instagram @tophotolaureate.