Refugee Week - Howard Davies

The career of acclaimed photographer Howard Davies has paid homage to some of the most significant events of the last few decades. He has captured the major conflicts of Rwanda and Bosnia. He was there for the aftermath of the 2005 tsunami. He’s got footage of the National Front demonstrations and the Poll Tax riots in the 80’s. And he’s produced a record of some of the first civil partnership ceremonies. This week, to coincide with Refugee Week, there will be a chance to view a selection of Davies’ photos of refugees and asylum seekers from around the world in an exhibition entitled ‘Images of Exile’ at Westgate Chapel.
I speak to Davies over the phone and ask him how he negotiates the task of documenting an event without sliding into sensationalism. “It’s a very slow process”, he tells me. “Because I’m a documentary photographer rather than a press/photo journalist I don’t have to snap a cover image. I spend a lot of time visiting families and earning the trust of the people involved. I try and avoid the easy shorthand of a crying child”. He’s also careful to honour the aid agencies which enable him to gain access. “I make sure that I never release my photos to people who will use them for the wrong aims. I don’t have a romanticised view of asylum seekers but I do want to debunk some of the myths which surround them”. Many of these myths derive from a lack of information, says Howard. “I think our news coverage is very parochial sometimes”, he tells me. “There are so many world events which are under-reported”.
I ask Davies which of the images is the most powerful or meaningful to him. “There is an image of a man called Salim. He is a Bosnian who had been living in London for four years during the conflict.