This topic researches our ability (sensitivity) to empathize. Is there a minimal threshold of pain or sufferings that drives a person to decisive actions such as to stop, help or prevent? On the other hand, is there a ceiling after which pain simply causes numbness and the wish to empathize changes into a wish to forget. What is the role of photography in forming a person’s reaction to another’s pain and sufferings? Can the image seen move a person to empathy in a case where he/she hasn’t experienced this reality him/herself? All the more so, if the photograph is over a hundred years old.
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