It’s unusual to meet a photographer that works on such opposite ends of the photographic spectrum as David Jay does. Regina Sutomo gets a special glimpse into his latest, powerful project.
“None of my work is what it looks like,” American photographer, David Jay says. Having featured in international publications including the New York Times, Vogue and TIME to name a few, Jay’s reputation as a fashion photographer precedes him. However in recent years, he has pursued his interest in projects surrounding the human experience. On the surface, his projects reveal the realities of disease, war and poverty; some of the most tortuous paths of our humanity. Their overarching message however, is much greater and universal in its intent.
The call of humanity
To date, David Jay’s projects have included The Alabama Project: The Civil Rights of Healthcare, which featured images of young women with little or no health insurance in the poverty-stricken Deep South of the United States, Grief Camp, with its images of children who have undergone significant loss at a “Grief Camp” in the mountains of upstate New York. More recently, he has worked on The SCAR Project - a series of large-scale portraits of young breast cancer survivors. In 2012, Jay began his current project, The Unknown Soldier, which is a series of portraits of returned servicemen and women from the war in the Middle East. During the seven years that he was shooting The SCAR Project, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were raging. “I knew then that I needed to address an often unseen consequence of all our actions,” he says.
His fashion career still continues and he takes commissioned fashion shoots as his schedule permits. Yet, this new direction for his projects lies in stark contrast to his career of over twenty years in fashion photography. “I find this type of work deeply satisfying; a thousand times more satisfying than I ever found fashion. Also, it has such a beautiful impact on the people who see it,” he says. The response from the public has been one of overwhelming positivity. Daily, he receives e-mails from people around the world about how The Unknown Soldier has affected them personally, and this humbles him greatly.
Jay likes to explore the side of life that we don’t often get to engage with, although he doesn’t necessarily see any of these resounding themes as taboo. “Maybe we’ll see [people severely injured by war] on the street and be inclined to look the other way. We don’t really get a chance to just stare at them and imagine what it is they feel,” says Jay. This is why the project title is so appropriate, however it wasn’t how it initially came about. Inspired by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington DC, Jay thought this would be an apt title for his project. “I think people minimise the reality of war, in their heads,” he says. And so he’s taken it upon himself to shed light on a harsh reality. Although this reality can be uncomfortable for the viewer, this unknown side of life is what Jay is interested in revealing; the side he wants to bring to light.
As simple as black and white
Despite the common thread of war throughout the series, Jay prefers the body of work not to be seen in the context of war. For him, the series is not an opportunity for storytelling or political commentary. In fact, the viewer is encouraged to engage in an open dialogue about issues we are not necessarily comfortable with and issues we are responsible for, by recognising shared emotions and scars. This project, as well as the others before it, is about alluding to an underlying commentary on the human experience; a simple message of humanity, courage and resilience. This message resonates through his portraits, especially through his use of black and white for The Unknown Soldier. “Colour can be fantastic,” Jay says, “but in general, I see things in black and white.”
Showcasing images that work on a number of levels can be incredibly thought-provoking. On the surface, the images present the harsh realities of war and its place in our contemporary world and, on a deeper level, the project is an exploration of the human experience, encouraging us to examine the way we
engage with each other.
When approaching such challenging material, most photographers might need some sort of personal or mental preparation, but Jay sees the bigger picture. “There’s certainly no preparation for me. That’s never crossed my mind. [My job is] not hard, compared to the life the subjects have to live,” he says. This level of respect really comes through in the work and it’s clear that the subjects are at ease with Jay as a photographer. With many of the subjects looking right into the camera, it’s hard to look away.
Confronting a harsh reality
For photographers aspiring to undertake projects with challenging subject matter, Jay stresses the importance of sensitivity and humility. It is paramount that the subject’s integrity is respected, especially with portraits as personal at those in The Unknown Soldier. “As a photographer, you really have to relate to the subject. You really have to understand the subject and what they’re feeling,” he says.
Jay’s compassionate approach to his subjects is what helps them feel comfortable in his presence, although it does take a very courageous person to stand in front of a photographer, bearing themselves to what is effectively a global audience. In comparison to previous projects, the subjects in this project were more difficult to come by for a couple of reasons. Jay worked with female subjects for The SCAR Project and observed some radical differences between it and The Unknown Soldier. For The Unknown Soldier, he was working predominantly with men and noticed that “men are different. These guys are very stoic, some interested, some wary.” In contrast, throughout The SCAR Project, Jay was (and still is) inundated with e-mails from women across the globe expressing their interest to become involved in the project.
For this project, Jay shot many of the portraits at the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre, in Washington DC, because that’s where US men and women are typically transported to after they’ve been injured overseas. Depending on the severity of their injuries, some patients spend years there. At the medical centre, the patients live in apartment buildings, where family members often come to live with them and take care of them. “I like shooting them in their own environment. There’s something very honest, something disarming about it,” says Jay.
Hesitations and reservations
While Jay went to much effort trying to make the subjects as comfortable as possible, he understands why the audience may not feel comfortable when viewing the images. In fact, The Unknown Soldier exhibition had some initial push-back, from galleries especially, with concerns of what the reaction would be to the images. “I think it’s what people need to see, so I’m definitely pushing to have them all out there,” he says. When The SCAR Project was exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rio de Janeiro, there was hesitation from the gallery about what the reaction from the public would be, but people flocked in their thousands to see the work. Jay hopes The Unknown Soldier will be just as well received. “I can understand why people are hesitant, but I think they need to be as courageous as the subjects are.”
The power of humility
Jay’s projects have had great success, leaving a resounding impact on audiences around the world. As well as having his projects showcased in travelling exhibitions, Jay has previously released books to accompany the exhibitions and documentaries on the process behind the scenes. The documentary about The SCAR Project, ‘Baring It All’, won a Daytime Emmy Award. For now, The Unknown Soldier is expected to be a touring exhibition only, although there is room for more. Footage of The Unknown Soldier has been shot over the past couple of years allowing the potential for a documentary about the project, but Jay’s focus remains on developing the series itself.
Regardless, viewing these images is set to be a physical experience. The images were never meant to be seen by flicking through them online. They were intended to be seen hanging on a wall, with the smallest being 106cm x 127cm across. “When a gallery is filled with these larger-than-life images and you’re surrounded by them in a big white room, it can be both intimate and confronting, I think. There’s nowhere to run.” In this respect, the images can be a powerful, thought-provoking form of introspection; and the power in their simplicity asks a lot from the viewer. The images are not so much about the subjects themselves as they are about the viewer.
Jay consciously considers his role as a photographer and how that affects the viewing experience, trying not to impose his photographic aesthetic on the images, in the hope that this helps the viewer form a direct connection with the subject. “It’s as if I’m standing with the camera and the viewer is standing behind me, then I just move out of the way and you’re left with the subject,” says Jay. A gallery immersion allows the viewer more time to transcend politics, culture, and knee-jerk reactions.
Gazing into the future and oneself
Although Jay has nearly twenty subjects for the project so far, he’s still looking for new subjects to shoot, especially since most of his projects seem to evolve and develop over time. “I don’t know when it will end, maybe it will never end,” he says. While a projected completion of the series is unknown, Jay is still juggling The SCAR Project, as well as creating new projects to undertake. His next is a project called Naked Ladies: a series of portraits of women in their 80s and 90s. And Jay is also really focussed on another project, Indivisible, which is a selection of images from each of his various projects, presented as one cohesive exhibition. When the pictures are taken out the narrow contexts they are usually presented in, the message of humanity becomes much clearer.
Ultimately, Jay hopes The Unknown Soldier will leave a profound impact on everyone involved, both viewers and subjects. “I hope the subjects feel as I do; that they are providing a service, in helping make us all understand so many things about life; how we behave, what we do with our lives,” Jay says. In turn, he hopes this project can be a catalyst for positive thoughts and actions and, be as satisfying for the viewers and subjects as it is for him to shoot.