On The Frontline

I'm in middle of reading/viewing On The Frontline by Susan Meiselas, in particular, the parts concerning Nicaragua and El Salvador. And I found it somewhat disconcerting, since when I initially got her book Nicaragua back in '81, I was most struck by the immediacy of her work. There was a sense of intimacy both with her subjects and her subject matter- the guerillas and the revolution, respectively. I imagined her at their meetings in secret enclaves both within the city walls and rural mountain outposts, bearing witness to the planning of the battles to follow. I imagined her following closely by as they trained, prepared, and ambushed a ruthless enemy- their official revolutionary documentarian.

So I was quite surprised to read how she was, in fact, quite the outsider, never knowing when or where the next skirmish would ensue, never being truly accepted as one of them. Not privy to their plans (how could she), she was constantly following rumors, forever relying on luck and intuition. Despite that reality, despite that most obvious divide, she was still able to convey that behind the scenes sense of presence and proximity.

Photography can be a funny thing, anyone who's done it long enough knows that one can take individual pictures that can be as misleading, as they are revealing. We know this. But despite being held at arm's length, there was a particularly genuine sense of authenticity throughout Nicaragua- somehow, someway Meiselas was able to draw us into that conflict, and not only engage us in the chaos and turmoil thousands of miles away, but also provide a modicum of insight as to what it was also like to be an ordinary citizen simply trying not to be the next person killed...