The Vulture And The Little Girl Analysis

The Vulture and the Little Girl, a Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography winner by Kevin Carter, is a photograph of a starving girl that fainted on her way to a feeding center in Sudan with a vulture in the background. The image depicted the brutality of poverty in underdeveloped countries through showing the weakness of the little girl, which contrasted with the strength of the nearby vulture. This image became extremely popular, partly due to its controversy, but mostly due to the strong message it carries. Some argued that Carter should’ve helped the little girl instead of taking the picture, but nevertheless, his expressed art through photojournalism managed to move a remarkably large group of audience. The public’s intense reaction through

Art has a more powerful impact in the pursuit of social justice because it conveys emotions that no book, article, or study could ever convey. Using art in social work formulates a deeper understanding of the issue at hand, provides a stronger method of communication amongst those involved, and creates a longer-lasting, more powerful impact. Wes Ryan’s spoken words performance in lecture triggered everyone because of its interdisciplinary approach. His integration of different disciplines, like sociology and politics, stood out most throughout his presentation. The web of connections he created engaged the audience to think critically about how many issues could be related on a macro-scale. He indirectly introduced the concept of sociological imagination, a theory developed by C. Wright Mills. Sociological imagination is crucial because it teaches how to look at a problem and relate it to the systems that rule the entire society. Ryan talked about how his seizure stopped his dancing career and how that let him slip into poverty. He, however, further explained the situation by looking at it on a larger scale. His need of medical care denied him access to other jobs, which meant that he couldn’t provide for

Art triggers emotions, and all human beings share the same hormones, which is why they have identical emotions. This creates a medium of communication that everyone can use and understand. No language, culture, age, or gender is a barrier. As part of my community-service experience, I visited Zanzibar with a volunteer group. My favorite project from that trip was painting a school wall with a diverse group of impoverished Africans. Throughout the entire experience, that was the first time I felt connected to them. We would usually read simple stories to African children, teach them simple math, or play simple sports with them. The gap between us and the African children was always there; we always felt different and it was extremely difficult to conduct conversation, because only a small portion of them would understand what we were trying to say. With painting the wall, however, no one found any difficulty with communicating. When we were done, I stood back to contemplate the art and noticed Sefu standing next to me, we both gave each other a look of satisfaction without saying anything. Mette Holme Ingeberg, Britt-Maj Wikstrøm, and Arild Berg (2012) studied the effect of art on communication in a hospital setting. Their study focused on how the use of art stimulated conversations between the nurses and the patients. They found out that “art can reveal stories from patients’ lives that staff otherwise may not have been able to access,”