With Cameraperson, Kirsten Johnshon both raises and answers the question of: The people I film are in immediate and often desperate material need, but I offer little to nothing material. While Kirsten may not have anything of material value to offer the people she films, arguably this might be the better alternative. By not offering the people materials that they may need, she places herself in a position of omniscience, she exists and inhabits the space she’s in, but she does not influence it or impress herself upon it. Allowing for a true perspective into the lives and stories of those and what she shoots.
When Kirsten visited lecture she mentioned that she could have given the young boy with the balloons a toy that she had in her pocket but she chose not too. Her mission when documenting the lives of people is not to change their lives or to assist them, granted it would be a noble thing to do. She is instead ‘documenting’ them, she turns them and their lives into a piece of information or evidence of how these people live. In lieu of offering needed material Kirsten instead offers her viewer evidence that these people exist. A crude way to phrase it but true nonetheless. Kirsten offers these people who might otherwise live their whole lives unnoticed, a medium to be ‘seen’ in.
The same is true for the questions of Kirstens ability to leave the places she films, while the people she films cannot. For one, it would be pointless for her to stay, and in fact backwards to do so. By leaving the site she takes their memories, their stories, and them literally on film with her, and she is able to spread this film as if she is spreading their story. By staying on site she is only occupying their space and impressing herself into this world. Ultimately keeping their story hidden if she was the one who would otherwise share it.
