‘Photographing peace is far more difficult than photographing conflict. Peace-building is inexorably a slow process of dialogue, agreement, with repeated failures, and yet more discussion. The dramatic moments of a frontline, with rifles held aloft, or panicked civilians are replaced with subtler details such as a wagging finger or eye contact between negotiators.
Power dynamics also reveal themselves in photos, with many images from this project showing activists with deferential body language in front of military officers. The fact that the meetings are even undertaken, and the willingness of these activists to put themselves in harm’s way, hint at the long and nuanced process of subverting this power dynamic.
Only a few of the activists I have been following for this project are associated with any international organisations or funding. The majority are unsung, and working directly with, and for, their communities. One of my aims is to record their work for posterity. The broader narrative of conflict is visually tied to publications publishing rapid fire images from news wires of displaced civilians. But narratives which emphasise urgency and action are blind to the slow work of peace. The successes of peacebuilders are neglected and their courageous actions have never truly been seen and applauded nationally or internationally.
The photos I have taken open up a world of tens of thousands of words worth of interviews and testimonies that explain the story of each activist, their beliefs and their intense experiences. This project is intended to create a history, both visual and oral, of war and peace in the DRC, across generations and across multiple cycles of conflict, told by those who know it best.’
Hugh Kinsella Cunningham
Visual Politics
Photographs are world-building. They don’t just reflect the world around us: they shape what we know, colour how we think, and impact how we feel. They focus our gaze towards certain events and people – and away from others. The perspectives they take frame our perceptions, direct the questions we might ask, and prompt particular emotional reactions. In both positive and negative ways, photographs – like many other kinds of storytelling – influence how we understand and interact with the world and with each other.
‘We live in a visual age. Images shape international events and our understandings of them. Photographs, cinema and television influence how we view and approach phenomena as diverse as war, humanitarian disasters, protest movements, financial crises and election campaigns. The dynamics of visual politics go well beyond traditional media outlets. Digital media, from Twitter to Instagram, play an increasingly important role across the political spectrum, from terrorist recruitment drives to social justice campaigns… This omnipresence of images is political and has changed fundamentally how we live and interact in today’s world.’
Roland Bleiker, The Power of Images in Global Politics: https://www.e-ir.info/2018/03/08/the-power-of-images-in-global-politics/
The study of ‘visual politics’ is important in alerting us not only to the impact that images can have on our own mindsets and behaviours but also on the political world at large. Widely shared images can impact voting patterns or trigger new protest movements; they can promote or undermine governmental policies and international strategy; and they can determine who is included and who is marginalised from future political decision-making.
In doing so, they have a profound impact on individual lives: for example, on whether or not someone fleeing a war zone is met with hostility or hospitality; or on whether funding is released to mitigate the impacts of a humanitarian disaster, and to whom those limited resources get directed. Each image has the potential to become a political intervention.
‘Moving the discursive focus from war to peace is a necessary precondition for the political move from war to peace.’
Frank Möller, Peace Photography 2019, 26
In his 2019 book Peace Photography, Frank Möller discusses the role that different kinds of photography have played in determining how we visualise and approach peace and peace-building. Noting the enduring influence of ‘war photography’, he argues that some photographic trends have obscured our view of the many different ways in which people make peace, even amid conflict; but he also points to photography’s capacity to reframe our vision of the world in ways that make peace and peace-building more visible and realisable. Peace photography can actively contribute to peace, Möller argues, by making it better understood and more tangible; and by pointing their lenses – and our gazes – towards the creative work of grassroots peace activists, photographers can harness more support for them at local, national and international levels.
The Ethics of Representation
This kind of photography involves careful ethical reflection. Particularly where victims of conflict are involved, photography can objectify, exploit and undermine; or it can humanise, support and empower.
‘For the last few decades, humanitarian campaign imagery has been dominated by stereotypical images of impoverished children, of mothers cradling their starving babies, and of boats overflowing with people seeking asylum. These visualisations are problematic because they represent people as passive, needy and devoid of the capacity to help themselves and their community.
In an industry-leading initiative, Australian Red Cross has moved away from such needs-based approaches, embracing, instead, strength-based photography that seeks to empower those depicted.’
Bleiker, R., Bratton, B. & Hutchison, E. (2023) ‘How do photos of our work make a difference’?, https://www.redcross.org.au/stories/2023/photo-research/
Ethical, empathetic and empowering representation is key to Hugh Kinsella Cunningham’s work. His photography treads a fine line between reflecting real threats and vulnerabilities and celebrating the strength and agency of the activists whose peace-building work he shines a thoughtful and caring light on.