Zoriah

When researching acid burns and it's victims, I came across photojournalist Zoriah Miller, or just Zoriah. Born in America in 1976, he is a photojournalist that focuses on war torn areas of the world. His work contains a sense of raw honesty that many photographers cannot capture, provoking many thoughts and emotions from the viewer. His love of photography started when he was just 15 years old, when he won a national award for one of his photographs. He began to travel, taking his camera with his at all time. During one of his expeditions, he had all of his equipment stolen, leading him to have to stay overnight in a homeless shelter. This set him back so far, that he almost gave up his passion of photography. He left the country, graduating college and moving to New York, to become part of the music industry, which didn't take off as much as he'd hoped. Following this knock back, he became absorbed in humanitarian aid, once again going abroad, to study disaster management. He wanted to capture all of this to educate people on the conditions, and the people who were living in the centre of it. Zoriah picked up a camera and the rest is history. He puts himself in hundreds of dangerous situations in Asia and Africa, focusing on the war-torn countries, hoping to educate those back home. He has missed death three times during his career, including being shot at by soldiers in Israel.
On a trip through Bangladesh, he learnt of the horrific acid attacks on men, women and children, that occur many times a year. Many of these women were attacked because they turned down a marriage proposal, and the men because of land disputes. Zoriah created this series of photographs for the non-profit charity, The Acid Survivors Foundation, which he believes makes the most difference to these people. The charity focuses on teaching communities that it is not the victims fault, that the attacker is the one in the wrong. They work alongside the government to push the laws, and find justice for the victims. These people now have to work for something that never needed to be taken from them, their whole lives are devastated and the trust work towards showing their communities this. Zoriah was invited into the homes of victims, learning about their lives, their families and the incidents. He does not disclose the names of the victims, which to me, makes a bigger impact as it seems as if there are too many names for him to include, showing the severity of these attacks. These photographs not only raise awareness for Acid Attacks in Bangladesh, but all over the world. They provoke strong emotions from the viewers, which is why I am going to include the whole series of photographs.

Warning: Graphic images

All images by Zoriah Miller.

These photographs capture such dramatic detail, they are extremely raw. The victims sit in front of the camera, without posing, without pretending they are something they are not. The plain, black background leads all of the focus onto the victims, their clothing, their expressions, and most importantly their wounds. These are undeniably graphic images, but this, I feel, startles the viewer, into realising that this is not makeup, but real wounds. Some of the victims are blind, some facially disfigured, some severely disabled. It is rare to find any images on the internet of acid burns that contain so much detail, that you can clearly see the wounds, the textures, and the disaster that the acid  has caused these victims. I feel this reinforces idea that we are shocked by the images, because we don't see this side to countries. The Western world has fewer attacks than in the East, where the communities are not educated about Acid Attacks. I feel that the UK does not educate our society about acid attacks enough, but our media allows it to be shown to the public. In places like Bangladesh, the victims are led to believe it is their fault that they have been attacked, with little to none media coverage. This series of photographs focuses on provoking human emotions, but also the dehumanisation of people. The idea that people can cause this amount of suffering purposely to people shocks me, and causes me enormous disbelief in the human race. I find this set of images very emotional and thought provoking, which I am hoping to do with my wound. 

Interview with Zoriah Miller (2010) Available at: http://petapixel.com/2010/06/03/interview-with-zoriah-miller/ (Accessed: 13 October 2015).

Miller, Z. (no date) ‘Acid Attack’, Available at: http://www.zoriah.net/blog/2013/04/acid-attack.html (Accessed: 13 October 2015).