WP1 Draft 2

The photograph “Sitting on Rail” was taken by a boy named Musa in 2000 in western Rwanda, overlooking Lake Kivu. This was only six years after the end of the Rwandan genocide, a violent ethnic conflict between the Tutsis and the Hutus. In the aftermath of the genocide, the Imbabazi Orphanage was founded by Rosamond Carr, an American women living in Rwanda at the time. About 95,000 Rwandan children had been killed or orphaned in the violence, and the orphanage was meant to be a place where children would be protected and cared for. "Imbabazi" literally means “a place where you will receive all the love and care a mother would give,” so it was a safe haven for the children amidst the conflict and suffering throughout Rwanda. Over 400 kids have lived at the orphanage, including Musa, the photographer who took this picture.

"Through the Eyes of Children" is a photography project started at the Imbabazi Orphanage. The program gave disposable cameras to the children to take "pictures for themselves and to share with others, exploring their community, and finding beauty as the country struggles to rebuild" (Rwandaproject.org). This project allowed Musa to become a photographer. Through technical elements such as visual hierarchy, coloration, vectors of attention, and framing the photograph evokes logos, pathos, and ethos. This is coupled with the cultural and historical context of the photograph to support the argument that though the children seem small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, there is still hope for them.

The children and the rail they are sitting give an appeal to logos because these elements work to create a visual hierarchy—the eye is first drawn to the children, specifically the child in the yellow shirt sitting on the rail. He is seated higher than the rest of the children, and as a result, stands out more. The rest of the children are aligned, and the child seated on the rail breaks this repetition. He is also positioned near the center of the photograph, which further helps draw the eye toward him first, and makes him seem like the main subject in the photograph. This shows that though the expansive background may be overwhelming, the vastness of the lake and the sky is not the focus of the photograph. Instead it is the children, who seek to accomplish the seemingly impossible task of finding hope among the nothingness.

Another appeal to logos is that the children sitting on the rail serve as a kind of visual separation between the sky and the water to better distinguish them. The top line of the rail is almost exactly where the horizon is in the background, which provides a clear distinction between the sky and the water that otherwise might not have been very noticeable. This serves as a backbone alignment for the photograph, further emphasizing the visual hierarchy. This also contributes to the argument because by visually breaking up the lake and the sky, the photograph makes these elements seem less daunting and creates the potential for possibilities.

One of the main appeals to pathos is the coloration of the photograph. The sky and the lake are very similar hues, so they would blend together and wouldn’t be very distinct, except for the separation by the rail. In addition, the colors in the background are very neutral. The sky and water are both a pale grayish-blue, and the ground is a light brownish-tan. These hues and the saturation of the hues elicit certain emotions with the viewer. The similarity of these hues contributes to the apparent vastness, and can make the audience feel a bit overwhelmed. The neutrality of the coloration gives a sense of bleakness and hopelessness. However, the different hues of the children and their clothing contrast with the bland hues of the background. This sets the children apart from the background and works with the visual hierarchy to make them the main focus of the photograph. By contrasting with background, the children aren’t dwarfed by the impossibility imposed by the background hues. Instead, they are something more important—a sign of hope among the despair.

The children in the photograph are looking out across the lake. Thus, the vectors of attention are focused in that direction, away from the audience. This creates an appeal to pathos because it evokes a sense of curiosity in the audience. What are the children looking at? Where is their attention focused? Why is it so important that they all are looking at the same thing? The audience can't see what the children in the photograph can see so this in effect distances and separates the viewers from the photograph. An emotional connection is established through the curiosity, but there isn't as strong of an emotional connection as there would be if the children were looking at the camera. Instead, the audience is positioned as an outsider looking in on the photograph instead of feeling like a part of it. This creates a sense of objectivity—the viewer can observe and take in the content of the photograph without the emotions that would be associated with the children.

The framing of the photograph appeals to logos. The rail and the lake appear to go on forever on either side; there is no clear end in sight in the photograph. This adds to the sense of vastness and makes the children seem smaller and less significant compared to everything else. However, since the photo doesn't show how big the lake really is or how far the rail extends, the children take up the bulk of the picture and are still the main focus. By looking at the photograph, the viewer can infer about the photographer and how the photographer took this picture, appealing to ethos. The viewer appears to be where the photographer was standing, so the viewer puts himself in his place—standing behind the other children and observing them, again adding to the objectivity of the photograph. This also creates an appeal to pathos in the audience. Though looking at the photograph as an objective outsider, the viewer can feel the emotional distance between themselves and the children in the photograph.

The photograph employs several elements in appealing to ethos, pathos, and logos. The visual hierarchy, coloration, vectors of attention, and framing all work together within the photograph to emphasized the importance of the children juxtaposed against the expanse of the water and the sky in the background. These rhetorical strategies contribute to the overall argument that the children in the photograph may face a seemingly impossible situation, but there is still hope and possibility for change. Knowing the context sheds more light on the situation of the children at the orphanage and helps the viewer of the photograph to appreciate it more. At first glance, it is just a photograph of children looking out at a lake, but knowing the historical and cultural context of the photo appeals to the viewers' emotions, or pathos. “Sitting on Rail” shows what life is like for these children, so often forgotten. With the help of the Rwanda Project, Musa helped to ensure that these children will not be forgotten and that their story will reach the rest of the world.

Works Cited

Rwanda: How the Genocide Happened. BBC news. 18 December 2008. 17 February 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1288230.stm.

Imbabazi: A Home for Hope. 17 February 2010. http://imbabazi.org/home.php.

Through the Eyes of Children. The Rwanda Project. 17 February 2010. http://www.rwandaproject.org/index.html.

WP1 Draft 1

“Sitting on Rail” was taken by a boy named Musa in 2000 in western Rwanda, overlooking Lake Kivu. This was only six years after the end of the Rwandan genocide, a violent ethnic conflict between the Tutsis and the Hutus. Through technical elements such as visual hierarchy, coloration, vectors of attention, and framing the photograph evokes ethos, pathos, and logos. This is coupled with the cultural and historical context of the photograph to support the argument that though the children’s lives have been drastically altered by the hardships and tragedy they have faced, the Rwandan children have been able to continue on with their lives as best as they can. By showing an aspect of their everyday life, the photograph ensures that the children’s story gets told and ensures that the children and their situation will not be forgotten.

There has been a long history of conflict between the Tutsis and the Hutus, the two main ethnic groups in Rwanda and its neighboring country Burundi. This conflict dates back to the early 20^th century when Belgian colonizers began identifying the native people based on their ethnicity, and deemed that the Tutsis were the superior class.

On April 6, 1994, a Tutsi rebel group led by current Rwandan president Paul Kagame assassinated the Rwandan president, a Hutu. Kagame denied this, but the Hutu backlash resulted in the genocide that left over 800,000 dead, most of those Tutsis. Millions more fled to neighboring countries, and conflict still remains as the current Tutsi government continues to invade the Democratic Republic of Congo to attempt to get rid of the Hutu refugees there.

In the aftermath of the genocide, the Imbabazi Orphanage was founded by Rosamond Carr, an American women living in Rwanda at the time. About 95,000 Rwandan children had been killed or orphaned in the violence, and the orphanage was meant to be a place where children would be protected and cared for. Over 400 kids have lived at the orphanage, including Musa, the photographer of this picture.

"Through the Eyes of Children" is a photography project started at the Imbabazi Orphanage. The program gave disposable cameras to the children to take "pictures for themselves and to share with others, exploring their community, and finding beauty as the country struggles to rebuild" (Rwandaproject.org). This project allowed Musa to become a photographer.

One of the main appeals to pathos is the coloration of the photograph. The sky and the lake are very similar hues, so they blend together and aren't very distinct. In addition, the colors in the background are not very saturated. The sky and water are both a pale grayish-blue, and the ground is a light brownish-tan. These hues and the saturation of the hues elicit certain emotions with the viewer. They create a sense of neutrality—there doesn't seem to be much going on in the background of the picture and it may not seem very important. Emotions of indifference and bleakness tend to arise from the hues in the photograph, which makes the audience pay more attention to the children and feel more emotionally connected to them.

The children contrast with the background of the photo because they are a darker hue that stands out against the pale background. This contrast appeals to logos because it creates a visual hierarchy—the eye is first drawn to the children, specifically the child in the yellow shirt sitting on the rail. He is seated higher than the rest of the children, and as a result, stands out more. The rest of the children are aligned, and the child seated on the rail breaks this repetition. He is also positioned near the center of the photograph, which further helps draw the eye toward him first, and makes him seem like the main subject in the photograph.

The children sitting on the rail serve as a kind of visual separation between the sky and the water to better distinguish them. The top line of the rail is almost exactly where the horizon is in the background, which provides a clear distinction between the sky and the water that otherwise might not have been very noticeable. This serves as a backbone alignment for the photograph, further emphasizing the visual hierarchy.

The children in the photograph are looking out across the lake. Thus, the vectors of attention are focused in that direction, away from the audience. This creates an appeal to pathos because it evokes a sense of curiosity in the audience. What are the children looking at? Where is their attention focused? Why is it so important that they all are looking at the same thing? The audience can't see what the children in the photograph can see so this in effect distances and separates the viewers from the photograph. There isn't as strong of an emotional connection as there would be if the children were looking at the camera. Instead, the audience is positioned as an outsider looking in on the photograph instead of feeling like a part of it. This creates a sense of objectivity—the viewer can observe and take in the content of the photograph, but the emotional connection with the subjects of the photograph is not as strong.

The framing of the photograph appeals to logos. The rail and the lake appear to go on forever on either side; there is no clear end in sight in the photograph. This creates a sense of vastness and makes the children seem smaller and possible less significant compared to everything else. However, since the photo doesn't show how big the lake really is or how far the rail extends, the children take up the bulk of the picture and are still the main focus. By looking at the photograph, the viewer can infer about the photographer and how the photographer took this picture, appealing to ethos. The viewer appears to be where the photographer was standing, so the viewer puts himself in his place—standing behind the other children and observing them, again adding to the objectivity of the photograph.

These rhetorical strategies contribute to the overall argument that the children in the photograph have been able to move on past the violence and destruction in Rwanda and live their lives. Knowing the context sheds more light on the situation of the children at the orphanage and helps the viewer of the photograph to appreciate it more. At first glance, it is just a photograph of children looking out at a lake, but knowing the historical and cultural context of the photo appeals to the viewers' emotions, or pathos. “Sitting on Rail” shows what life is like for these children, so often forgotten. With the help of the Rwanda Project, Musa helped to ensure that these children will not be forgotten and that their story will reach the rest of the world.

Works Cited

Rwanda: How the Genocide Happened. BBC News. 18 December 2008. 17 February 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1288230.stm.

Imbabazi: A Home for Hope. 17 February 2010.http://imbabazi.org/home.php.

Through the Eyes of Children. The Rwanda Project. 17 February 2010. http://www.rwandaproject.org/index.html.

WP1 Statement of Purpose

My main purpose in Writing Project 1 is to explain to my audience how the photograph “Sitting on Rail” evokes ethos, pathos, and logos in the audience through the technical aspects used in the photograph and also to explain the context of the photograph. I want to make clear the photographer’s purpose of showing what life is like for the orphaned children in Rwanda and ensuring that their story is told throughout the world and that the children and their stories are not forgotten. I also want to support the photographer’s argument in the photograph—that despite what tragedies may have happened, people must adjust and go on with life, which is exactly what the children at the orphanage had to do.

My audience of this paper consists of my teacher, classmates, future English 151H students, and potentially anyone who has access to the Internet and stumbles across my blog. My primary audience is my teacher. This writing project is a graded assignment, and my teacher is the only person that I know for sure will read this. Because of this, I have to keep in mind the guidelines of the assignment and make sure to follow them to get a good grade on this paper. I also have to make sure that I present my ideas and argument in a clear and unique way that will stand out against the papers of my classmates and make an impression on the reader, in this case, my teacher.

My secondary audience is my classmates and future students. These people all know that my blog exists and will have easy access to it through links on their blog and on the English 151H main page. This audience will not be reading my paper to grade it like my teacher would be, but they may be reading it as an example of what the assignment is or to get an idea of how other people are doing this writing project. My current classmates are all doing the same assignment, and there is a good chance that future students will be doing the same or a similar assignment as well.

Another secondary audience could be anyone with access to the Internet. This could be someone who is browsing blogs and happens to stumble across mine, or it may be someone searching the Internet with a specific purpose in mind. When I googled the Imbabazi Orphanage that I mention in my writing, my blog comes up on the second page of results. This shows that there is a pretty good chance someone who is looking for information on that orphanage could find my blog. When keeping this audience in mind, I have to make sure that all the information I present is clear and accurate.

The context in which all my audiences will be reading my paper is on the Internet. This means that the audience will have access to multiple resources and lots of additional information on my topic. This is beneficial to me because I can use hyperlinks and multimedia elements like photographs to enhance and supplement the information I give in my writing, and this will help to increase the understanding of the audience.

If I were doing this project on a different medium, such as a traditional paper, I would not be able to make use of these aspects and my audience would have to rely only on my paper as a source of information, unless they wanted to do any outside research on their own. Using the Internet as the medium of this project makes additional information much more accessible as well as increasing the scope of my potential audience.

WP1 Pre-Writing 3

The photo I chose was taken in western Rwanda overlooking Lake Kivu in 2000. This was only six years after the terrible Rwandan genocide ended, a violent conflict between the Tutsis and the Hutus, the two major ethnic groups in Rwanda and its neighboring country Burundi.

The crisis began in April 1994, and by June, there were about 800,000 dead, mostly Tutsis. Rwanda has a long history of conflict between the two groups that culminated in the assassination of the Hutu Rwandan president on April 6, 1994. The Hutu backlash resulted in the mass murder of the Tutsis, and millions more fled Rwanda to neighboring countries. Conflict still remains however as the current Tutsi government continues to invade the Democratic Republic of Congo to attempt to get rid of the Hutus that are refugees there.

As a result of all this, about 95,000 Rwandan children were killed or orphaned. This influenced Rosamond Carr, an American woman who had been living in Rwanda, to create what would come to be the Imbabazi Orphanage. Over 400 kids have been cared for in the orphanage, and one of these kids was Musa, the photographer of the picture I chose.

"Through the Eyes of Children" was a photography project started at the Imbabazi Orphanage. The program gave disposable cameras to the children to take "pictures for themselves and to share with others, exploring their community, and finding beauty as the country struggles to rebuild" (Rwandaproject.org).

Knowing this sheds more light on the situation of the children at the orphanage and helps the viewer of the photograph to appreciate it more. At first glance, it is just a photograph of children looking out at a lake, but knowing the historical and cultural context of the photo appeals to the viewers' emotions, or pathos. It makes the audience wonder more about the particular photograph--Why was it taken? What does it show? Who are these children? And what about the photographer? While not a professional photographer, he had a specific purpose in mind when he took this picture. He wanted to show what life is like for these children, so often forgotten by the rest of the world. With the help of the Rwanda Project, Musa helped to ensure that these children will not be forgotten and that their story will reach the rest of the world.

Works Cited
Rwanda: How the Genocide Happened. BBC News. 18 December 2008. 17 February 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1288230.stm.

Imbabazi: A Home for Hope. 17 February 2010. http://imbabazi.org/home.php.

Through the Eyes of Children. The Rwanda Project. 17 February 2010. http://www.rwandaproject.org/index.html.

WP1 Pre-Writing 2

As mentioned in WP1 Pre-Writing 1, the children in the photograph are looking out across the lake. Thus, the vectors of attention are focused in that direction, away from the audience. This creates an appeal to pathos because it evokes a sense of curiosity in the audience. What are the children looking at? Where is there attention focused? Why is it so important that they all are looking at the same thing? The audience can't see what the children in the photograph can see so this in effect distances and separates the viewers from the photograph. There isn't as strong of an emotional connection as there would be if the children were looking at the camera.

Also appealing to pathos are the colors visible in the photograph. The sky and the lake are very similar hues, so they blend together and aren't very distinct. The children sitting on the rail serve as a kind of visual separation between the sky and the water to better distinguish them. The top line of the rail is almost exactly where the horizon is in the background, which provides a clear distinction between the sky and the water that otherwise might not have been very noticeable. In addition, the colors in the background are not very saturated. The sky and water are both a pale grayish-blue, and the ground is a light brownish-tan. These hues and the saturation of the hues elicit certain emotions with the viewer. They create a sense of neutrality--there doesn't seem to be much going on in the background of the picture and it may not seem very important. Emotions of indifference and bleakness tend to arise from the hues in the photograph, which may make the audience feel apathetic.

The children contrast with the background of the photo because they are a darker hue that stands out against the pale background. This contrast appeals to logos because it creates a visual hierarchy--the eye is first draw to the children, specifically the child in the yellow shirt sitting on the rail. He is seated higher than the rest of the children, and as a result, stands out more. The rest of the children are aligned, and the child seated on the rail breaks this repetition. He is also positioned near the center of the photograph which further helps draw the eye toward him first and makes him seem like the main subject in the photograph.

The framing of the photograph is interesting. The rail and the lake appear to go on forever on either side; there is no clear end in sight in the photograph. This creates a sense of vastness and makes the children seem smaller and possible less significant compared to everything else. However, since the photo doesn't show how big the lake really is or how far the rail extends, the children take up the bulk of the picture and are still the main focus, which is what the photographer probably intended. By looking at the photograph, the viewer can infer about the photographer and how he took this picture, appealing to ethos. The viewer appears to be where the photographer was standing, so the viewer puts themself in his place--standing behind the other children and observing them.