Video: War photographers reveal the long-term trauma of their difficult profession
- Text by Adam White
- Photography by Donna Ferrato
“A death unrecorded is a death forgotten.” These are the words of Joao Silva, one of six conflict photographers chronicled in a six-part series of documentary shorts, Conflict. It’s the latest work by New York-based production house Redfitz Films, designed as a series of monologues by prolific photographers of different forms of conflict.
The films explore the harrowing psychological toll conflict takes on those who feel a responsibility to shoot it, and their varying responses to whether photographing scenes of war and violence have had any real power.
Silva talks of the personal cost of his experiences as part of the Bang-Bang Club, the photographer collective that documented the very end of Apartheid in early ’90s South Africa. Photojournalist Pete Muller describes his process, Donna Ferrato explains how a chance documentation inside an abusive home led to a career photographing domestic violence, and Robin Hammond talks of the horrors he has witnessed while chronicling the thousands of victims of rape in the Congo. The three speak of the value of conflict photography, and the need to educate the Western world about violence that would otherwise go ignored.
But photographers Nicole Tung and Eros Haogland come at their profession differently. Tung speaks through tears as she recalls her experiences photographing the conflicts in Syria alongside the late James Foley, killed by ISIS militants in 2014. “I have this privilege to see humanity at its best and worst and everything in between,” she says. “But I don’t think doing this is ever worth your life.” Haogland echoes similar sentiments, recalling the many friends and family he has lost while photographing the drug wars and political corruption in Mexico, and pondering the usefulness of his profession. “My pictures don’t speak, they whisper.”
Provocative, unflinching and cinematic, Conflict is available to watch in its entirety at Redfitz.com
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
You might like
A stark, confronting window into the global cocaine trade
Sangre Blanca — Mads Nissen’s new book is a close-up look at various stages of the drug’s journey, from production to consumption, and the violence that follows wherever it goes.
Written by: Isaac Muk
“Like skating an amphitheatre”: 50 years of the South Bank skatepark, in photos
Skate 50 — A new exhibition celebrates half a century of British skateboarding’s spiritual centre. Noah Petersons traces the Undercroft’s history and enduring presence as one of the world’s most iconic spots.
Written by: Noah Petersons
“I didn’t care if I got sacked”: Sleazenation’s Scott King in conversation with Radge’s Meg McWilliams
Radgenation — For our 20th Anniversary Issue, Huck’s editor Josh Jones sits down with the legendary art director and the founder of a new magazine from England’s northeast to talk about taking risks, crafting singular covers and disrupting the middle class dominance of the creative industries.
Written by: Josh Jones
Free-spirited, otherworldly portraits of Mexico City’s queer youth
Birds — Pieter Henket’s new collaborative photobook creates a stage for CDMX’s LGBTQ+ community to express themselves without limitations, styling themselves with wild outfits that subvert gender and tradition.
Written by: Isaac Muk
The suave style and subtle codes of gay San Francisco in the ’70s
Seminal Works — Hal Fischer’s new photobook explores the photographer’s archive, in which he documented the street fashion and culture of the city post-Gay Liberation, and pre-AIDS pandemic.
Written by: Miss Rosen
The stripped, DIY experimentalism of SHOOT zine
Zine Scene — Conceived by photographer Paul Mpagi Sepuya in the ’00s, the publication’s photos injected vulnerability into gay portraiture, and provided a window into the characters of the Brooklyn arts scene. A new photobook collates work made across its seven issues.
Written by: Miss Rosen
