From Tina Modotti onwards: women in photojournalism 

Modotti refused to be called an artist: “Whenever the words “art” or “artist” are used in connection with my photographic works,” she once said, “I feel an unpleasant sensation due no doubt to the misuse of such terms. I consider myself a photographer and nothing else.” Her way of being was far more practical. She had a direct and simple approach to the medium. It was about being in the right spot at the right moment, with her camera and her sensitivity at hand – or so it feels when walking through the Roverella exhibition. In Modotti’s case, saying photography was not art was perhaps not to lessen it, but to affirm that it was a form of expression in its own right. Again, the point was simply being there, and telling a story. This way of thinking might also be what allowed Modotti to form such strong connections with the subjects she photographed – and to be able to choose the right details to report on their stories, albeit often finding herself in complex social contexts. The recurring use of metonymy (a figure of rhetoric indicating the choice of showing a part to portray the whole) is a perfect example of her awareness as a photographer.

However – even if one refuses to look at her biography – Modotti today means more than the photographs she shot. She stands as a symbol: one of the first women to challenge the idea of photography, and photojournalism, being a male dominated industry. She was a forerunner – to whom all female photojournalists today seem to owe something. The fight to reclaim the right of women to be where men have been for decades – reporting on wars, crisis, revolutions, the big events of the day – goes on.