The power of still image

The image here proposed tells us a larger story than that of a policeman walking through what it appears to be an abandoned house. The agent’s attitude seems to be that he is ready to use his gun. At first glance, what we see is the job of policemen in the United States, as showed in the news or the movies. Without knowing its context, this image would be interpreted as a common police activity. Spectator would imagine that the risk of patrolling abandoned properties forces the policeman to use his weapon.

Although, this apparently common still photography portrays a much more complex situation, it contains universal connotations related to the failure of global financial markets. By this image, photographer Antony Suau, denounces the consequences of financial crisis that left hundreds of thousands US citizens homeless. This picture criticizes the fact that for the last years, financial institutions were not responsible in authorizing subprime mortgages, creating a credit bubble on real estate markets. This bubble blew out on the summer of 2007, when French bank BNP Parisbas declared itself unable to pay massive debt hedge funds from US banks. Until now, global financial crisis has affected more than half a million households in the US.

One characteristic of this image is that at first look the spectator is “cheated”; it would be common think that the policeman on the photo is chasing criminals. What is interesting about this, and is why this image is important, is that it breaks accepted stereotypes. The surrounding story of this photo completely changes the typecast of what the job of policemen is and to whom should he point his gun: to evicted residents on “their own” house?

What this photo tells is that economic situation went so critical in the US, that police enforcement tasks consisted in surveillance at foreclosured homes. What we also testify on this photo is a situation not seen before in the United States: people being chased out of their homes. What is shocking about this is that it goes against the values of American dream; it counters a prevailing idea of what ownership means in the wealthiest economy of the world.

This image denounces other social problem in United States as well. It has to do with public heath, since what we do not see on the picture, but plays important role on it, are the addicts or the squatters police agent fears to find.