"Is there a threshhold of disaster that needs to be crossed before we pay attention?"


Imagining Famine is a research project that details how famine has been represented in the media, from the nineteenth century to the present day. Its aim is to provoke a debate about the political effect of such photographs on our understanding of the majority world.

The project takes its opening from the famous Mohamed Amin/Michael Buerk 1984 BBC television report from Koram in Ethiopia, which is credited with spawning the Band Aid/Live Aid phenomenon. Praised by an American broadcast executive because "it was as if each clip was an award-winning still photo," the Amin/Buerk report also led to a critical review of the way aid organizations and the media pictured such disasters.

Two decades on from the watershed of 1984, with issues of debt and development in Africa increasingly featuring on the political agenda, the time is ripe for reviewing the way images from and out of Africa are produced and consumed.

Imagining Famine does not claim to have addressed all relevant issues, answered the questions posed, or produced a manifesto of correct use of images in the media. Instead, its aim is to provoke debate among the producers and consumers of disaster imagery and encourage further reflection by all concerned.

Imagining Famine is an ongoing project, and feedback is encouraged. Please visit the website to contribute your comments.