A series of photographs on hunger in India that show villagers posing next to tables full of food has sparked a backlash online and been branded as exploitative “poverty porn” by critics.
The pictures by Italian photographer Alessio Mamo, which show children covering their eyes next to fake meals, went viral after the World Press Photo Foundation shared them on Instagram.
Mamo apologized in a statement on Tuesday after several Instagram and Twitter users criticized the “Dreaming Food” series, with many posting the hashtag #PovertyPorn in protest.
“This is extremely insensitive. There are better ways to raise awareness than to try and snatch dignity away from people,” Instagram user shraddhanjalis said in a post. “A little empathy would go a long way. Poor people are not props.”
Yet other social media users defended the series as an attempt to shock and engage the public on the issue of hunger.
“The only goal ... was to let Western people think, in a provocative way, about the waste of food,” said Mamo, who took the photographs in 2011 in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
“Maybe I did it in the wrong way, but I worked honestly and respectfully with all the people involved. I only had the intention to let people think,” his statement said.
In response to the online backlash, World Press Photo — home to one of the world’s leading news photography prizes —- said in a statement that photographers were responsible for selecting which pictures to post on the organization’s Instagram account.
At least 194 million Indians go hungry daily, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said.
India ranked near the bottom of last year’s Global Hunger Index, at 100 of 119 countries.
One-third of all food produced worldwide is lost or wasted before it can be eaten, said Danielle Nierenberg, president of the US-based research group Food Tank.
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