Michael Casey | The Image Mirror

THE VULTURES ARE A CIRCLING, BUENOS AIRES

I found this picture on a site that contained some wonderful photos of Buenos Aires, the city I live in, which despite being a bit rough around the edges, retains much of its former architectural glory. Compared with the rest of the site’s rather large portfolio of appealing images, a collection that photographer Gastohn Barrios put together to show visitors “why I love [this city] so much,” this one is different.  But it has me wondering: is it the choice of foreground, the wing-like portion of a bronze statue in the plaza facing the Congress, that makes me see the birds in the sky as vultures, or is it my own point of view, one that’s informed by my journalistic immersion in Argentina’s brutal political culture? Most likely, the birds are simply pigeons and are within a relatively short distance from the camera. But that’s not what I see: I see vultures circling high above the Congress. We view images with a consciousness shaped by our previous thoughts and experiences.

The date on the web site suggests Barrios took this shot before October 9, 2004, and yet with my reading it becomes a clear comment on the country’s forthcoming legislative elections. In preparation for the June vote, with the local economy falling precipitously into yet another crisis, the government-allied majority is pulling out all the Machiavellian tricks in the book to save itself. And still the prognosis for their survival is not good. If the ruling party loses control, as some polls suggest, it could also sound the death knell for the populist, scandal-prone administration of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and the political career of her husband, ex-President Nestor Kirchner. The vultures in the opposition, by no means a dignified flock of birds, are hungrily waiting…