Rwanda, 1994-2014: corpses put to the test of photography. An anthropology of images of the Tutsi genocide

Conference

Published on

22 September 2014

Updated on

19 June 2017

Colloquia

The Archaeology of Violence

International colloquium organized by Inrap and the Museum of Louvre-Lens.
October 2, 3 and 4, 2104 at La Scène du Louvre-Lens

The archaeology of violence: wartime violence, mass violence
by Nathan Réra, Labex CAP (HiCSA/INHA)

Between April and July 1994 over 800,000 Tutsis were victims of genocide in Rwanda. Despite the impossibility of working in the killers’ footsteps, a few photographers managed to photograph bodies left at the extermination sites. Others returned after the event to capture the memory of these places disfigured by horror, where traces of genocide (skulls, bones and even entire bodies covered in quicklime) are still visible. I will try to define the issues and strategies that arise from their images at the crossroads of information and art.

Nathan Réra who has a Ph.D. in art history and film, published a revised version of his thesis at Presses du réel: Rwanda, Between Moral Crisis and Aesthetic Malaise. The Genocide of the Tutsi Put to the Test of the Media, Photography and Cinema (1994-2014). Rouge Profond has also published two of his works, In the Garden of Delights. Interviews with Paul Verhoeven (2010) and From Paris to Drancy, or the Possibilities of Art after Auschwitz (2009). He wrote the text for the latest book of photographs by Christophe Calais, A Rwandan Destiny, published by [Neus] (2014).

Bibliography :

Hans Belting, « Pour une anthropologie des images » [2001], trad. J. Torrent, Paris, Gallimard, coll. « Le Temps des images », 2004, 346 p.
Susie Linfield, "The Cruel Radiance. Photography and Political Violence", in Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 2010, 321 p.
Nathan Réra, « Rwanda, entre crise morale et malaise esthétique. Les médias, la photographie et le cinéma à l'épreuve du génocide des Tutsi (1994-2014 ) », Dijon, Les Presses du réel, coll. OEuvres en sociétés, 2014, 641 p.
Christopher Taylor, « Terreur et sacrifice. Une approche anthropologique du génocide rwandais », Toulouse, Octarès Éditions, 2000, 234 p.