Concerned Photography: Intended Consequences
Posted: February 28th, 2009 | Author: kamau | Filed under: multimedia, photography, politics, video | 2 Comments »
Screenshot from Exposures site © J. Torgovnik
Intended Consequences, Photographs and Interviews by Jonathan Torgovnik is a multimedia (photos, text, video) exhibition documenting the devastation left in the wake of the sexual violence unleashed during the Rwandese genocide.
In February of 2006, Torgovnik traveled to East Africa to report on a story for Newsweek, coinciding with the twenty-fifth anniversary of the outbreak of HIV/AIDS. While in Rwanda, he heard an interview with Odette, a survivor who was raped during the Rwandan genocide and as a result of that rape, had a child and contracted HIV/AIDS. She described how her entire family had been killed and recounted the terrible abuse she experienced. Odette’s horrific story led Torgovnik to return to Rwanda to work on a personal project about women who, like her, were left pregnant as a result the militia’s heinous crimes. Over the next three years, he made repeated visits to photograph these women and their children, and record their heart-wrenching stories.
This is hard and gut wrenching to watch. I do however appreciate you bringing it to our attention.
I actually went to check out the show recently; it is even more intenseto see the pictures up close and hear the stories. but it is also absolutely amazing that most women have unconditional love for their children who in many ways are a daily reminder of the rape, torture, of AIDS and ostracization from remaining family members.
Then to walk around the chi chi boutiques and restaurants in the Meat Packing District nearby (a place that is as far away psychologically from the Rwanda of these women as it is possible to get). It was a very disorienting experience.