Unfortunately, bearing witness to tragedy doesn’t inherently bring the power to change it, and it’s that tension, between empowerment and futility, that is explored in Tamaki and Partridge’s exquisitely crafted, fiercely provocative work of nonfiction, Seen and Unseen, which focuses on the works of three photographers as they documented the forced removal and internment of Japanese Americans on the West Coast during World War II. Teens might feel this disconnect particularly keenly, having used photos or videos to document their lives, (or, for the more socially conscious, to galvanize protests and marches) while fending off (and sometimes caving to) the temptation to doom scroll into despair. The never-ending stream of content can render individual images flat and indistinct, as pictures of birthday parties or homemade meals appear next to images of natural disasters or war-torn countrysides, stripping each of its emotional impact. With the ever presence of social media in modern life, visuals-from the mundane to the horrific-play an oversized role in how we understand and process the world.
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