Jacob Riis

Jacob Riis was a Danish American journalist, photographer, and social reformer. One of his main goals was to expose the life of the slums in New York City to those of the middle and upper classes. Riis felt that by photographing impoverished people in New York City, that he could eventually encourage the upper classes to give their help and service, or convince the government to consider social reform.

Riis was excellent at combining documentation and art, in my opinion, because not only was he documenting what he found to be true, but he was also using the medium to evoke an emotion in it's viewers. I would argue that many artists today use pieces of their art to push for social reform. In this case, Riis is no different.  The emotional quality of the photos that he took, along with the strong meaning behind them, are clear arguments for Riis' photographs to be considered as "art."