ZEKE Fall 2019

ZEKE
THE
MAGAZINE OF
GLOBAL DOCUMENTARY
Published by Social Documentary Network
Dear ZEKE Readers:
Welcome to the tenth issue of ZEKE magazine!
What keeps us going is 1) our love of the photographic image, and 2) our belief in the
ability of photographs to communicate important information about our world, especially
at a time when our experiences are more visual than ever. To lay out a greater case for
the documentary image, I hope you will take a few minutes to read the essay I wrote on
page 40 of this issue about the aesthetics of documentary photography and why good
photos of bad things matter. I believe, more than anything, this describes why documentary
photography matters to me.
In this issue of ZEKE, we are proud to feature the work of the winners of the first ZEKE
Award for Documentary Photography, Toby Binder (Germany) and Rory Doyle (US), in
addition to features on Rising Tides with photographers Lauren Owens Lambert and
Michael O. Snyder (both from the US), and Sean Gallagher (based in Hong Kong);
and finally a feature on teen pregnancy in Rwanda by UK-based photographer
Carol Allen-Storey.
As a prelude to the next issue of ZEKE, we have an interview by Caterina Clerici with
Lekgetho Makola, Head of the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa. What
we learned from this interview is there is a remarkable photo community in Africa, which we
know little about here. We look forward to exploring this vibrant community in the next issue
of ZEKE which will be a special issue on photography in Africa, guest-edited by Makola.
At the time I am writing this letter, the US is reeling from two mass shootings—in El Paso,
Texas and Dayton, Ohio. The first by an avowed white supremacist espousing racial hatred
and the second by a mentally ill person just filled with hate. What these two shooters have
in common is that they are white, male, and have unfettered access to semi-automatic high
powered weapons. While I wouldn’t suggest putting any restrictions on the first two qualities
(some may disagree with this position), it is long overdue that we question whether highly
dangerous and lethal weapons should be freely available to anyone. We don’t allow access
to automatic weapons or certain classes of explosives; we enforce speed limits; we heavily
regulate food, children’s toys, medicines, automobiles and many other aspects of our society.
It is about time we outlaw these weapons.
But the connection I see between photography and mass shootings in the US is not the
obvious one—it is not to shine light on the shooters or the massacres. Rather it is to shine
light on the sanctity of the lives of everyone else—me, you, our families, friends, coworkers,
fellow citizens in these united states of America, and to make a case why these lives
need to take precedent over the dubious right to own weapons of mass destruction. What
photography does so well is to describe individual people and to help us see both our
common humanity and our common diversity, all deserving of equal love and protection.
Matthew Lomanno
Glenn Ruga
Executive Editor
ZEKE FALL 2019/ 1