The Violence of the Image: Photography and International Conflict

Photography has visualized international relations and conflicts from the midnineteenth century onwards and continues to be an important medium in framing the worlds of distant, suffering others. Although photojournalism has been challenged in recent decades, claims that it is dead are premature. The Violence of the Image examines the roles of image producers and the functions of photographic imagery in the documentation of wars, violent conflicts and human rights issues; tackling controversial ideas such as 'witnessing', the making of appeals based on displays of human suffering and the much-cited concept of 'compassion fatigue'. In the twenty-first century, the advent of digital photography, camera phones and socialmedia platforms has altered the relationship between photographers, the medium and the audience- as well as contributing to an ongoing blurring of the boundaries between news and entertainment and professional and amateur journalism. The Violence of the Image explores how new vernacular and artistic modes of photographic production articulate international friction. This innovative, timely book makes a major contribution to discussions about the power of the image in conflict.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations vii Contributors xii Introduction: The Violence of the Image – Liam Kennedy and Caitlin Patrick 1 Part I: Framing Civil and (Post-)Colonial Conflict 7 1 The Incorruptible Kodak: Photography, Human Rights and the Congo Campaign – Christina Twomey 9 2 'Follow the Americans': Philip Jones Griffiths's Vietnam War Trilogy – Liam Kennedy 34 3 The Violence of the Image: Conflict and Post-Conflict Photography in Northern Ireland – Justin Carville 60 4 Dispelling the Myth of Invisibility: Photography and the Algerian Civil War – Joseph McGonagle 78 Part II: Politics and Photographic Ethics at the Turn of the Twentieth Century 95 5 The Myth of Compassion Fatigue – David Campbell 97 6 Infra-Destructure – Ariella Azoulay 125 7 Watching War Evolve: Photojournalism and New Forms of Violence – Robert Hariman 139 Part III: The 'Unstable' Image: Photography as Evidence and Ambivalence 165 8 Photo-Reportage of the Libyan Conflict – Stuart Allan 167 vi THE VIOLENCE OF THE IMAGE 9 Witnessing Precarity: Photojournalism, Women's/Human/ Rights and the War in Afghanistan – Wendy Kozol 193 10 The Forensic Turn: Bearing Witness and the 'Thingness' of the Photograph – Paul Lowe 211 11 Ruins and Traces: Exhibiting Conflict in Guy Tillim's Leopold and Mobutu – Caitlin Patrick 235 Select Bibliography 256 Index 274