Frank Möller, “Peace Photography and the Temporality of the Aftermath,” pp. 47–61 in Picturing Peace: Photography, Conflict Transformation, and Peacebuilding, edited by Tom Allbeson, Pippa Oldfield and Jolyon Mitchell
From a peace studies and complexity theory point of view, this chapter exemplifies merits and limitations of aftermath photography as peace photography and introduces a holistic approach to aftermath photography.
It disaggregates aftermath photography into a photography of the event-as-aftermath and a photography of the aftermath-as-event, the one looking back to the original event, the other looking forward to peace or anticipating peace as a potentiality.
A photography of the aftermath-as-event displays some distance to the original event thus offering spaces of possibility for peace and reconciliation without denying the legacies and the ongoing relevance of the original event including traumatic memories.
Given the complexity of the aftermath of violent conflict, disaggregating it into two distinctive phases while acknowledging overlap and movement in both directions can best be understood as a tool to complexify and diversify our understanding of the aftermath and its visual representation, both of which often appear over simplified.
By discussing the complexities of the aftermath, visual and otherwise, the chapter addresses both aftermath photographers, including aspiring ones, and audiences exposed to such photography.
The book, edited by Tom Allbeson, Pippa Oldfield and Jolyon Mitchell, appears in the series New Encounters: Arts, Cultures, Concepts. According to the publisher, it “explores humanitarianism and visual culture, community collaboration, collective memory, and imagined futures for creating and sustaining of civil societies. How things look and are perceived are not superficial issues; when it comes to war and conflict, photography is vitally relevant not only to documenting violence, but also to rebuilding peaceful societies.”
London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2025
352 pp
ISBN 9781350258853
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/picturing-peace-9781350258853