Critical and Contextual analysis

Fine art photography is a large category of photographs that is created in accordance to the vision of the artist as a photographer. Can be a way of manipulating an image to make it surreal. Fine art photography is a visual art; it is to be appreciated solely for their imaginative, aesthetic, or intellectual content.
www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ghettos/grossman

This image was taken by Mendel Grossman, who was a Jewish photographer who was born in 1913 and lived through some of the holocaust. In 1939, he was moved to the Lodz ghetto in Poland along with his parents, two sisters, brother in-law and nephew. Due to the nature of the Ghetto, he was not allowed to take photographs or have a camera on his person. He got around this sneaking a camera into the ghetto and carrying around in his coat, peering the camera through the gap between his buttons when he wanted to take pictures. Before being evicted to the ghetto, Grossman was keen on very visually attractive photographs; he mainly photographed landscapes, as well as pictures of flowers, street scenes and portraits, however, upon entering the ghetto, he realised there was little beauty to be found, therefore made it his mission to photographically documentary the horrors of living in the ghetto. This photo features two Jewish Boys, one of which appears to be in some sort of official's uniform, holding a stick to the other boy and pretending to arrest him. It is the Uniform that residents of the Ghetto who were assigned to police the other residents wore. The fact they appear to be role playing as a resident of the ghetto and a resident assigned to act as a police officer can suggest that despite the situation they live in, they have yet to lose the innocence of childhood. Also, they treat the policing, as if it were a game of cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians, further showing that they still have their child-like innocence and treat the situation as something to make games of. There is a clear Punctum in this image; the uniform that is being worn, particularly the armband being worn. The whole uniform creates connotations of power, and it stands out as it is not what you'd expect a child to be wearing, particularly in a WW2 Ghetto. It can be suggested that the child wearing the uniform wants to experience what it feels like to be the one in charge and with the power, as he is used to being the one being subordinate to the officers rule. This could be why has either signed up to police the other residents or is role playing as this person. This could also be seen as evidence that their childhood innocence is corrupted however, as he is dressing in the uniform like a child would in a police uniform, yet a police officer arrests those who have committed crimes, and the police residents are a result of their own persecution, which suggests life in the ghetto has indoctrinated them. The same could be said about wanting to be in a position of power; he may now view power as something he can use to control others, as that appears to be what he is role playing here. His time living in the ghetto may have warped his view of authority and in which way it should be used.