In the Village / Dans le Village: Photographs from Nicaragua / Photographies du Nicaragua

Beverley B. Endersby was a Toronto-based editor and writer.

This work, created by Jonathan Leaning, former photographer with the National Film Board of Canada, is published with the assistance of several Canadian entities which foster international solidarity. It is designed to bring the condition of the rural Nicaraguan people closer to the reader through black-and-white photographs which convey eloquently the human dimensions of their lives. To help achieve this purpose, the introduction, the brief explanations which accompany the pictures, and the concluding remarks are in English and French. The book ends with a list of agencies, organizations, and groups interested in Nicaraguan aid and a resource list of films, videos, and reading materials.

The two introductions complement each other but both point to the evils of the American intervention by proxy and stress the fact that Jonathan Leaning captures the multifaceted truth of a people living a crisis. Then follows a prelude in which the photographer explains the basis of his pictorial exploration in a sojourn among the inhabitants of the village of La Virgen Morena. The 27 pictures which follow depict the simple humanity of the villagers against the backdrop of their rudimentary shacks, their limited plots of land, their primitive furnishings and utensils. We witness the pain of a child screaming in sickness, the concern of the peasant farmers for the blight attacking their crops, the glint in the eye of the old revolutionary who would rather be fighting the contras, the sadness of the farmer who laments his lack of education, the spontaneous smiles of the children, ubiquitous bare feet and spare-framed dogs. But the pictures and their captions also reveal the problems which change brings: Doña Luisa, who has seven children by seven different fathers and a haggard face to show for it, is prevented by her current husband from working with the women’s co-operative; when the co-operative’s melons are stolen, the group go to a witchdoctor to find out who the culprits are; Doña Rosaura’s smiling face becomes tense with apprehension when the explosions caused by the American warships bring memories of her son’s sacrifice for the revolution; Señor Acevedo holds up a picture of his son who has just been killed fighting the contras and his face is gnarled and contorted with grief. There are eloquent absences, too, and we observe the notable lack of young men in the pictures.

The spontaneity of the pictures, however, should not make us underestimate the skill and sensitivity of the photographer. Jonathan Leaning selects, frames, and lights his subjects with a clever eye and, within the limited scope offered by the 27 pictures, manages to convey the multi-dimensional face of a simple society trying to improve itself in spite of traditions both national and international. The remarks which conclude the book under the title of “In the Village / Dans le Village” give a brief background to the Sandinista movement and an account of the revolution’s movement in the areas of women’s rights, education, and health. These remarks add significance to the tissue of life woven by the preceding photographs.