Tired of poverty porn, photographer presents 'a new Africa'

Family members in an unnamed village of Uganda pose in this 2018 photo. Photographer Cho Jang-sok has taken photos of African people since 2015. Under a partnership with Korea Foundation, Cho will embark on a family photo project to Ethiopia, Uganda and Madagascar starting May 9. / Courtesy of Cho Jang-sok

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Photographer Cho Jang-sok said he was disturbed by some nonprofit groups' TV campaigns soliciting donations for Africa-based charities because of the way they present the poor people there.

In the footage, malnourished children with flies in their eyes, children with swollen bellies and poor moms looking hopelessly at their dying children are presented to encourage viewers to call their toll-free numbers to underwrite to "save" the African children.

Images like these are known as "poverty porn" among experts.

Cho said he was annoyed by NGOs' self-serving TV campaigns. He said such footage is not only misleading but also responsible for negative perceptions about Africa and people of the continent.

"When you go to Africa, you'll see that those images are misleading," Cho said during a recent interview with The Korea Times. "It's true Africa is still poor and there are people who live in extreme poverty. But Africa is not all about poverty. People there are warm, hopeful and confident. African people smile a lot at strangers like me. But such positive images are missing in the campaigns."

Cho, who became famous for his supermodel wife Park Dool-sun, has taken photos of families in Uganda, Senegal and Rwanda since 2015 when he joined local and international NGOs as a photographer.

For African people, he said the family photos are much more than a snapshot of family members.

"When I visited Senegal years ago, I met a local guide named Arizuma. His mom passed away when he was very young, and his father married another woman after his first wife died," Cho said. "Arizuma went to neighboring countries for work. He once worked as a seaman. Life as a guest worker in a foreign country was tough. Whenever tough times hit, he said he missed his mom so much but there were no photos of her through which he could remember her."

Quoting Arizuma, Cho said hunger is a relatively minor issue because it can be resolved once the economy is growing. "But the memories of the missing family member are not something you can overcome," he said.

His photo trips to Africa helped Cho build a better understanding of the continent.

In Rwanda, he said he saw in person that a generation is lost because of the 1994 genocide that ravaged the African country. As many as 1 million people were slaughtered during the massacre masterminded by the core members of the Hutu political elite.

Cho said the trauma is still there. "When I visited Rwanda, unlike other Africans, the local people were suspicious of me. It took time for them to open their hearts to me."

Cho has taken photos of over 1,000 African families.

Once he returned to Korea, he selected the best shots for each family, framed them and sent them to the families.

Soon he realized financing the photo project became unfeasible as the number of families he captured in his photos increased.

With a firm belief the project needs to go on, Cho tried to find an organization that could fund his project. He submitted a proposal to Korea Foundation to finance the project and his request got the nod.

Under the partnership, starting May 9 Cho will visit three countries ― Ethiopia, Uganda and Madagascar ― for the photo project.

Ethiopia is his first stop. Cho will visit a village in which Korean War veterans live and capture the heroes and their families. Then he will head to Uganda in June which will be followed by another trip to Madagascar in July.

"African people love photos. Their reactions to photos go beyond what you can imagine. Photos overjoy them," he said.

Cho began his career as a fashion designer after graduating university. After years of work as a designer, he entered university again to study photography. After completing his studies, he explored a new career as a commercial photographer. He has worked with various local and international magazines, including Vogue Magazine.

As time went by, he said he grew tired of his profession.

"I was sick and tired of taking commercial photos. My photos became increasingly provocative because I was asked to take photos like that in order to encourage consumers to purchase certain products I was working on," he said.

Cho Jang-sok poses with his supermodel wife Park Dool-sun during TV Chosun's talk show in this recent photo. / Courtesy of Cho Jang-sok

Around that time, he had the opportunity to join a trip to Israel for a tour of holy sites. In 2010, his wife Park Dool-sun asked him if he would join a church group for the trip. Cho and his wife are Protestants.

Cho said initially he didn't like the idea, but later decided to join them.

"At that time, I was stuck in a dilemma as a commercial photographer and thought the Israel tour could inspire me to find a solution," he said.

Cho said the Israel trip was life-changing.

"I saw a rainbow behind the Tomb of the Prophet Samuel in northern Jerusalem. Interestingly, I was the only one among our group who witnessed it. The rainbow was captured in my photo that I took during the trip," he said.

After returning to Seoul, Cho said he had thought a lot about what the "miracle" meant for him. "I prayed about it for a while and my prayer was heard. I realized God wanted me to share my talents as a photographer with others."

Cho visited Israel two more times and his photos were later on view for other church goers.

His Israel tour led him to become a cause-driven photographer.

In 2015, he joined Onnuri Church's nonprofit charity group Better World and embarked on tours to Africa with the aid workers.

Since then, he has captured "a healthy, confident Africa" in his photo projects.

"If you look at Africa from the perspective of poverty, I think it's hard to find hope there," he said. "I try to present an alternative, new perspective about Africa and African people. In my photos, African people are smiling and their innocent smiles are captured. Instead of malnourished children drinking unsanitary water or fighting for their lives after being infected with AIDS or other untreatable diseases, I captured children and adults with healthy smiles."

Cho said the African people he has met are warm and have wonderful hearts.

"They are poor. But whenever I visited them, people were trying to find something to give to me. People there are like Koreans in the 1970s when we were poor but had warmth in our hearts," he said.