I love photojournalism so I was intrigued by this when I saw it at a photography museum bookshop. This Brilliant Darkness is a mix of photographs, interviews, and memoir. It covers a gamut of “frightened and frightening people,” with Sharlet talking to the homeless, queer people in Russia, violent homophobes, an abortionist in Kenya, and many more people. He has a good eye for a story while remaining respectful and thoughtful. Sometimes projects like this can feel exploitative or extractive, but this one didn’t really come off that way (although there were a few moments where I had questions about journalistic ethics and how involved he got — I never have a real problem with people becoming involved in a story because we’re all people and he didn’t seem to be doing this for a news organization, but giving someone help for a bit without any long-term plan seems kind of iffy to me. Who knows, maybe he did help the person long-term and it’s just not in the book.).
The most affecting part for me was “12:07 p.m.,” which described the murder of Charly Leundeu Keunang by the LAPD. Sharlet digs deeper into the story beyond the initial surface level media coverage and is able to get a complete picture of his life and how his murder impacted his friends and family. I think this sort of in-depth reporting is so important because the news comes so quickly now and it is easy for newspapers and TV to take what the police say at face value. Sharlet really brings Charly’s life to the forefront and shows how dehumanization and despair can have catastrophic, deeply immoral results. “Dark Rooms,” about the struggle for LGBT rights in Russia, was also very moving and stressful for me, but important to read. I’m glad that I picked this up, as it is the sort of on the ground, embedded work that I like and that opens my eyes to the world more broadly beyond my safe little bubble.
A lot of trigger warnings, though: police violence, murder by police, hate crimes, state violence and murder, sexual assault, white nationalism, mental illness and the mistreatment of the mentally ill and unhoused people — the unvarnished facts of life