4E: Helping People Through Art.0:01
Passersby pause in a bustling Hong Kong street.0:26
Something doesn't look right.0:31
Right next to a fancy restaurant, there's a large photo of an emaciated young girl in the slums.0:33
Looked at from the other side of the street, it seems the starving girl is being ignored by the comfortable diners.0:40
Or rather, it is Cade Ashton's.0:49
He took the photo and put it up.0:52
He goes to the world's most dangerous and deprived urban areas, takes pictures of their poverty-stricken residents, then shows them where richer people can't avoid noticing them.0:54
Ashton's passion for photography began with other subjects.1:06
Though he has always been interested in the lives of the down-and-outs, he began photographing graffiti on trains around his home in Canada.1:11
Then after university, he moved to Taiwan.1:19
Here, he began to photograph people.1:23
Since then, he has travelled to Iran, Venezuela, the Philippines, Colombia, Cambodia, and more than two dozen other countries, seeking out those areas where most don't go.1:26
Although taxi drivers sometimes refuse to take him, Ashton believes the slum dwellers are often the friendliest and most welcoming people of all.1:39
He says the people are often keen to be photographed, especially if he helps them with a job.1:49
He asks which city they'd like their photo to be shown in.1:55
Los Angeles seems to be the most popular.1:59
Back home, he turns the photos into poster-sized prints.2:02
Next, he chooses where to place the poster, ideally somewhere where there will be an obvious contrast.2:06
For instance, he might select a picture of a boy picking through a rubbish dump to go next to an expensive designer boutique.2:13
Then he uses a technique called wheat pasting to stick them on the walls.2:21
Most of the time, what Ashton is doing is against the law.2:27
It is called flyposting, and it is a common problem in cities.2:31
Everyone from nightclub owners to political parties cover walls with ugly advertisements and announcements, it is treated by the police as similar to graffiti, in that it is vandalism of a public space.2:36
'It's just some paper and glue,' Ashton says, 'but it still requires someone to clean it off, and wheat paste can be very difficult to remove.'2:49
But Ashton does more than take and exhibit his photos.2:59
In Manila, he was particularly shocked to find people living under bridges advertising billboards, and beside railways.3:03
He wanted to give them a way to express themselves, so he started a small school teaching drawing, t-shirt painting, and breakdancing.3:11
Ashton isn't without his critics, though.3:20
Certainly, we should keep in mind those less lucky than ourselves, and there's no doubt that the street kids like the creativity classes.3:22
But we can also ask: are Ashton's pictures really helping those he photographs?3:31
Do street kids in Manila actually benefit from breakdancing lessons?3:36
And is it fair to give residents of Los Angeles or Hong Kong a guilt trip for the condition of slum dwellers?3:41
Perhaps Ashton's method is too simplistic.3:48
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