IOTW: Photographing man's inhumanity

Bruce — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 20:17:13 +0000

In stark contrast to last week's landscape, this IOTW (Image of the Week-ish) encompasses a different kind of reflection: how cruel we can be to each other. I present two images, one a work of art and the other a randomly piled natural material, but both strong in symbolism. They record a recurrent theme in human history, on this occasion events approximately 30 years apart. My notes Sometimes travelling entails things you aren't supposed to enjoy, but that are instead educational. The educative process can sometimes be so powerful that it warrants a photograph to reinforce the lesson. The first image was taken in the Sculpture Garden in Moscow during 2002. It's a tight crop from a large curved wall containing numerous stone faces behind bars and barbed wire. The sculpture commemorates those who died or were incarcerated during Stalin's campaign of terror in the USSR. The numbers are uncertain, but one million victims is a conservative estimate. It's hard to capture on film, but the original artwork is very evocative. The fact that the faces are indistinct adds to the message: so many anonymous people suffering, so many stories that will never be told. Click thumbnail to enlarge image Victims of Stalin The second image was taken in March 2006 outside Phnom Penh, in one of the infamous Killing Fields of Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge brutally murdered vast numbers of their countrymen, perhaps approaching one quarter of the country's population. It's beyond comprehension. The aim in taking such a photograph is not to make ...

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IOTW: Photographing man's inhumanity