Willoughby Wallace Hooper, Opuszczone dzieci w Madrasie podczas Wielkiego Głodu w Indiach, 1877. Fotograf nie płacił ani nie nakarmił dzieci.
„‘Forsaken’ is freighted with the weight of Hooper’s ambition. The landscape is parched, and terrifyingly bleak. The vacancy in the background is only accentuated by the desiccated trunk and roots of the peepul. At the base of the trunk are two severely malnourished children, like skeletons with skin pulled over them. One is lying down, possibly asleep, on what looks like an emptied out sack of grain. The other, perched in an alcove in the roots, stares hypnotically in the direction of the camera. To his left are fragments of cookware. To his right, standing on an exposed root and intently studying the scene before it, is a crow. The sinuous roots of the peepul are like the tresses of death, poised to engulf the children sheltering in their shade.
Very little is known about ‘Forsaken’; but what is difficult to conceal is the heavy ‘artistry’ of its composition. It is Hooper’s pursuit of perfection—prompting him to place suffering people in service of the ideal shot—rather than fidelity to the truth that is the dominant theme of this photograph. Hooper was known to spend a long time composing shots, and he dispersed his subjects without paying or feeding them. His methods were satirised and attacked in the London press.”Długi artykuł o tej fotografii
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